


Oliver Al Ghul

by MythicalCypressWater



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: ARGUS, F/M, Kidnapped by the league, OOC, Oliver and Slade Bromance, Oliver is an assassin, Oliver is ra's son, Torture, nyssa is Oliver's sister
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-25 05:52:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 32,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14372304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MythicalCypressWater/pseuds/MythicalCypressWater
Summary: When Oliver Queen was an infant he was kidnapped by the league of assassins. Since then, he had been raised as Al Sah Him, Heir to the demon.(Re-going through the seasons (flashbacks) but with Oliver as an assassin and Slade there the whole way. Please Read It, it’s better than the summary)





	1. Oliver and Nyssa Al Ghul

**Author's Note:**

> Unlike my other works, this will be a multi chapter one.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own the beautiful creation of Arrow!

Unknown to the security guards, three assassins slipped into an upstairs window. The night was cold and silent. The three assassins walked over to a crib and snatched the baby inside. The baby didn't make a sound as it was sleeping, and the shadows in black disappeared into the night.

They arrived at a helicopter and drove back to Nanda Parbat. 

 

__

* * *

                                                _6 years later_

 

"Ollie, watch." Nyssa said. She took her sword and raised it up then brought it down. Seven assassins ran at her. She flipped the first one and struck her sword through his chest before swinging her arm back and slicing through another. Nyssa put her foot on one's back of the knee, then side, and then shoulder, before flipping him over and stabbing his abdomen. She jumped up and sliced through the other four easily.

" Your turn." She told him. 

Oliver stood up and and beckoned for seven more men to join him. He took his sword out of his holster, raised it up and then back down. The assassins ran at him and he struck the first one to reach him in the neck. Oliver did a back flip and landed on one's shoulder, before slicing his neck too. When the other five ran at him, he flipped one, stabbed his chest and then ran up a wall, flipped, and stabbed one in the chest on the way down. The last man and woman standing, circled him before attacking. Swords clashed on sword before finally Oliver punctured the mans throat. The women fought hard, but Oliver stabbed her chest a few moments later.

" Impressive, brother." Nyssa commented, standing. Just then, Ra's walked in the chamber. He looked at the seven assassins on the floor, as the ones Nyssa killed were dragged off, and approached the siblings. 

"Good Job, my son." He glanced at a pile of bodies in the corner. "And daughter. Just six and seven years old and you can fight better than some of my best horsemen."

" We stride to do you proud, father." Nyssa said, looking him in the eyes. "Yes." Oliver spoke. "When will we first go on a mission for you?" 

Ra's' eyes drifted towards the ceiling as he thought. "Perhaps, very soon, my children. You have been doing well. It would be cruel not to reward good behavior." With that he walked off. 

Nyssa smiled at Oliver and uncharacteristicly, hugged him. 

"Thank you !" She squealed, "I've been wanting to go on a mission for years and you just got him to say yes!" 

Oliver hugged her back and smiled into his big sisters shoulder. Suddenly he grabbed her hand and flipped her. Since Nyssa wasn't expecting it, she fell onto her back. Even though her brother flipped her, Nyssa grinned at him. 

"Good job, little brother." She said, maturity returning to her voice. 

Oliver grinned back. "I learned from the best, big sister." Oliver said, gripping her hand to help her up.

 

 


	2. Return to Starling

Ra's Al Ghoul stood in his chambers dressing into a dark green robe with a black hem that had a golden scribble on it. He slipped on the demons ring and then straightened himself in the mirror. Ra's had a mission for his children. To go to starling city and kill Robert Queen. He grinned to himself as he thought of how well his plan came together. Oliver was his son, heir to the demon. He was easily teachable and a strong fighter. Now, he would murder his biological father without knowing he was killing family. With Ra's' thoughts in place, he whisped out of his chambers to go to the temple.

"Retrieve Al Sa Him and Nyssa. I believe they are both in Al Sa Him's chambers." Ra's told an assassin on the way.

* * *

Oliver and Nyssa sat on his bed trying to see who could finish a puzzle star first. 

"What's the point of this?" Complained Oliver. Nyssa glanced up and grinned at him. 

"Patience brother. Good things come to those who wait." Nyssa told him. Oliver gave her a pointed look. Letting the puzzle star drop on the bed, he spoke. 

"If someone was about to kill me, I wouldn't _wait_  to kill them." 

Nyssa dropped the puzzle star too. "Yes, well perhaps it is a rather boring activity. Would you like me to read to you from the book of murder?"  

Oliver nodded enthusiastically. The book of murder was a book full of creative murders committed by the league. Oliver couldn't read some of the pages because of the more advanced words. Nyssa stood walked over to a shelf full of large, old looking books. She pulled out one of the biggest with a dark brown spine that had a pattern on it and returned to the bed. Nyssa flipped to the page they were marked on and was about to read when an assassin opened the door.

"Ra's Al Ghoul requests of your presence."  

Nyssa nodded and shut the book. She gracefully stood and took Oliver's hand to pull him off the bed. Together, they walked to the Great Temple where Ra's stood with his back facing them. Slowly, he turned around when he heard the two come in.

"I have a mission for you. You must go to starling city and kill a man named Robert Queen. He is a man who has wronged the league and I no longer wish for his presence on this earth to remain. I have full faith in your abilities, but with you, I send seven others. Do you understand?" Ra's told Oliver and Nyssa. He wasn't lying. He wronged the league by existing with the risk of exposing his secret to Oliver. 

"Yes, Father." Oliver and Nyssa said. 

p>

A gentle smile graced Ra's face. "Good. Killing a man at your ages, you do me proud.You leave at 9:00 sundown." Ra's smiled, nodded and Oliver and Nyssa knew they were dismissed.

* * *

At 9:00 p.m, seven assassins, Oliver and Nyssa all lined up outside by a helicopter. Ra's stood in front of his children. 

"I wish you both luck, wisdom, and strength." 

"We will not fail to serve you father." Nyssa said.

With that, they all got into the helicopter and flew away from the unknown location of Nanda Parbat.

* * *

From the dark shadows of the Queen mansion, Nyssa instructed four assassins and from the other side of the mansion Oliver instructed three assassins.

When Oliver was done instructing the men and women,he silently slipped into a window. The room was dark and it had strange paintings of cows, sheep, and a moon on the wall. In front of him, stood a white wooden cradle but no baby was inside. From there, he slinked out the room.

Oliver walked outside the room and began opening doors. One looked to be a guest room, another a bathroom. The next few also seemed to be guest rooms and one or two were empty. Finally, Oliver arrived at the last door and opened it. Inside lay a woman and a man. Looking at his face, Oliver knew it was Robert Queen. With no hesitation, he took out his sword and sliced the mans throat. 

Oliver holstered the sword and stepped out the room. He jumped over the banister and landed silently. He approached Nyssa who had been standing there. 

"It is finished." Oliver whispered. Nyssa nodded. They rounded up the assassins and headed back to the helicopter. While Oliver and Nyssa rejoiced a sussecful mission, starling would mourn the loss of the loved billionaire.

 

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Kill

                                                  _10 years later_

 

"1,004!" Oliver shouted at Nyssa. Nyssa smiled slyly at him. 

"1,007." She replied. Oliver's facial expression dropped.

" How'd you get more kills than me?" He asked.

"Do you remember the last mission we went on? Yes, well, the corridor I was clearing had a few extra people then what we anticipated for." She explained.

"Ant la tafshil li'iitharat li ukht'." Oliver said, smiling.

Nyssa smiled at him as well, extending her sword. "Ant la tafshil Liakun akhi Jayid." 

As oliver stood up, he extended his sword too. 

"Yajuz lil almuquatil al'afdal yafuz." Oliver grinned. 

Nyssa attacked, racing towards Oliver and attempting to catch his side with the sword. Oliver blocked it, throwing her arm over. While Nyssa was leaning sideways, he went for the finishing move but Nyssa kicked his side hard. Oliver swung his sword but Nyssa blocked it. He swung again and she blocked it. She swung and he blocked it. Finally, Oliver got time  to roll off to the side and took out Nyssa's legs. She fell onto her back, but before Oliver could make her surrender, Nyssa did a backflip to get up and out the way, cut his side and the two ended the battle sword against sword. 

"Well, done." Nyssa panted. 

"And yourself." Oliver panted back. They broke apart and holstered their swords. 

"You haven't been using your arrows." Nyssa commented, as they walked toward the temple. Oliver glanced sideways at her.

"If I had, you'd be seriously injured." He said. The statement seemed to bring a memory to Nyssa's mind. She held out her arm, stopping him. 

"Wait, I cut your side." She said fumbling with the layers of clothes to inspect the blood. Oliver looked down. 

"Huh, I didn't notice." Oliver said, kinda carelessly as he looked at the blood soaking his clothes.

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing." Nyssa said, almost agidatley glancing at him. She continued to fumble with the clothes, attempting to see how large the wound was.

"I'll be fine." Oliver dismissed. "Let's get to the temple to see father." Nyssa glared at him.

"As your big sister, I say we will go see father after I stop the bleeding, bandage you up and get you changed." Nyssa told him, tugging on his arm.

"You're older than me by a year." Oliver groaned, shuffling his feet on the floor as Nyssa pulled him.

"A year and four months." Nyssa said. "It counts." Nyssa led Oliver down three long corridors and several turns before making it to her room. When they arrived, Nyssa flung open the door and pushed Oliver into it, shutting the door behind her. She then proceeded to push Oliver onto the bed in a sitting position by the shoulders. Nyssa walked briskly over to a large shelf and looked at it for a moment before grabbing a small brown chest and a bottle. Nyssa came back to the bed and demanded Oliver to strip of his upper garments. Oliver complained that it would heal fine, but she insisted. Nyssa opened the chest and took out a delicate looking bandage.

Then, she opened the bottle and poured the translucent blue into her hand. "What is that?" Oliver questioned. Nyssa looked up briefly before going back to work.

" _This,_ was left to me from our mother before she perished. It will heal anything twice as fast. She got it from the mouth of a stream in the forbidden mountains." Nyssa informed him. When she applied it, Oliver thought it felt like a wave of relief and energy washing over him. Nyssa proceeded to wrap it and demand an assassin to give him a fresh pair of clothes.

 Putting the chest and bottle back on the shelf, she said- 

"I can always get more of it, but I treasure it all the same." Nyssa and Oliver left the room and headed to the temple.

* * *

" My son," Ra's said. "Today, you and I will go to a land long begotten where I trained to be considered worthy to wear this ring." Ra's then put his hand in the air. He turned to address Nyssa. 

"And you, my beloved daughter will tell the servants of what foods to prepare for when we return. You know Oliver the best." He said, a small grin on his face. Nyssa squeezed her brothers hand and smiled at him before leaving the room.

" Now, Al Sa Him, we travel to the land of the begotten." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Oliver speaks to Nyssa in the beginning he's saying - you never fail to impress me sister.
> 
> When Nyssa speaks to him, she says - you never fail to be a good brother  
> The words before the fight mean- may the best fighter win.


	4. The begotten land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no idea what the place where Ra's took Oliver was called so I made up a weird name instead! I'm not abandoning this fix, sorry I went a few days without posting. Please comment something you'd like to happen! It makes writting easier! Also, I apologize for the short chapters! Without further ado, enjoy!

"I haven't been here in many centries. This place was where I was chosen to be the new Ra's Al Goul. Another man, Damien Darhk thought himself worthy to be the demon. I was chosen however and we had to fight one another. I could have killed him, but I hesitated. And with that hesitation, he fled. With him, he took loyal followers and started a new organization called H.I.V.E." Ra's said to Oliver. 

Oliver glanced at his father. "All of this was the work of one man?" 

Ra's turned to stand in front of Oliver, stopping. "A very powerful man. Here we will train you to become Ra's.

For hours the father and son fought in the middle of the stone circle. Ra's often won the battles but sometimes they tied. Every now and then, Oliver even beat him. It was sundown when they quit, breathless and tired.

" You have done well, Al Sa Him. I am proud." Ra's said, sheathing his sword.

" Thank you father." Oliver said, sheathing his sword as well.

" And now we will return home and see what your sister has planned." Ra's said, beginning to walk. 

"She knows me best. It will be great." Oliver said grinning.

* * *

 Nyssa returned from the kitchen where she had been yelling at the servants. She knew her father and brother would be back by sundown and the servants needed to cook faster. Nyssa had told the servants to make cooked pheasant, steamed carrots, broiled brisket, vegetable and meat stew, baked chicken and a choclate ganache cake. 

She yelled in Arabic at them as they placed the food on the table. To drink, they had sacred wine, which the two were allowed in Nanda Parbat. When Nyssa was sure everything was ready, she descended to her chambers. When Nyssa arrived, she brushed her hair and put on a white silken dress. This was important. Her brother, her little brother, was coming home from his first day of training. For a while, Nyssa stared at herself in the mirror. Eventually, an assassin came in. 

"The demon and the heir have returned home. You may meet them in the dining hall." He said.

" Thank you." Nyssa replied. She turned to the mirror, straightened herself, and left the room.

* * *

" Ollie!" Nyssa cried in joy. She was honestly happy that he was in one piece. She knew their father loved him, but she wasn't sure of the measures he would take to prepare Oliver.

"Nis'." Oliver said, hugging her when she had extended her arms.

" Your brother did exceptionally well today." Ra's told his children from where he had been watching from his seat in amusement. When Oliver and Nyssa both took a seat side by side, the servants served food into dishes and left the room.

" You didn't forget anything." Oliver said around a spoonful of stew. Nyssa took a bite of chicken and replied. 

"Never."

 

 


	5. shipwrecked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if you guys don't like the whole, time jumps but it works for me. Anyways, enjoy!

                                                                                7 years later      

 

 

 

 

Seven years had passed since Oliver had begun his training as Ra's. With each year he grew stronger and more skillful. Now, no one, except maybe the current Ra's, could beat him. As a deed to fulfill his last session of training for such an honor, Oliver, Nyssa and several other assassins boarded a boat headed across the seas. 

"Ollie!" Nyssa called from the upper deck. Nyssa was happy for her brother. He had trained for so long and he was almost done. Oliver, now 23 years of age, walked over from the railing and stared up at her with his hands behind his back. 

" Yeah, Nis'?" Oliver asked, using her nickname while tilting his head slightly. Nyssa jumped over the metal railing of the upper deck. 

" Are you sure you're not hungry?" She asked him in an almost pouting voice. Oliver grabbed her hands and smiled at her. Nyssa met his gaze and smiled back. 

" No, Nyssa." Oliver chimed.  Nyssa sighed and slumped down a little.

"But you haven't eaten in three days." Nyssa reminded him. Oliver smiled at her.

" And I'm not hungry. " He said. Suddenly, Nyssa dropped his hands, put them on her hips and straightened up. 

"As your big sister, I demand you eat something this instant before I and all the other assassins force feed you. " 

While they both knew this wasn't true, the care Nyssa was showing towards her little brother was adorable.

"Oh, that would be terrible! I'd never win!" Oliver  said, mockingly. He allowed Nyssa to push him into the kitchen where she sat him in seat. After a few minutes of whisking around the kitchen, she returned with some soup. 

" Eat all of it, and you get ice cream." Nyssa said. When Oliver eyed her suspiciously, Nyssa added - " _Chocolate_ ice cream." After that, he seemed satisfied, and sipped on the soup. Nyssa knew she was only a year and a few months older than him, but being able to act on it made her feel warm inside. Oliver was growing up so quickly. For the last seven years he was training to be Ra's and she didn't get to spend as much time with him. Nyssa was glad they went on this boating trip, even if was a mission. 

Meanwhile, Oliver had finished his soup, and crept over to the fridge. Nyssa was so absorbed in her thoughts, she didn't notice. Oliver grabbed the whole two gallons and crept to the bottom deck. Upon entering the basement, Oliver found a dark corner to hide in and began eating the ice cream.

Nyssa finally looked up, figuring Oliver would be around done by now. To her surprise he was gone. Nyssa checked the fridge and saw the chocolate treat was gone.

"Oliver...." She growled quietly. Nyssa stalked out the room and searched Oliver's  room first. Then she searched her own room, the guest bedrooms, the laundry closet, clothing closets , the upper and bottom deck and finally the kitchen again. The only place she hadn't looked was the basement. Without further thought, Nyssa made her way to the basement and down the stairs. She searched everywhere, until finally, she found her brother sleeping in a corner with an empty bucket of ice cream. 

"That was two gallons, damn Ollie. " Nyssa muttered. She couldn't help but smile at her brothers unconscious form. Nyssa then ordered to assassins to carry Oliver to his room and threatened that if they woke him up, they'd loose their heads.

* * *

The night had grown dark and Nyssa was happy her brother was asleep. He hardly slept at all with his nightmares .On several occasions, she had been there to calm him down. As Nyssa took in a breath of air, the ship rattled beneath her. She turned around in alarm. Before she could do anything, the ship blew to pieces. Nyssa struggled in the waves, gasping as she surfaced. "Nyssa! Nyssa Al Ghoul!" Cried a mans voice. Four of the assassins were sitting on a life raft. Nyssa swam over to it. 

"Where is he?!" She cried. "Where's Ollie? Where's my little brother?" Nyssa shouted, becoming panicked. The four looked regretful. Nyssa turned towards the still crumbling and on fire ship and tried to dive back into the water. 

" _OLLIE! OLIVER!"_ Nyssa cried as the four men held her back. 

* * *

Oliver registered red and oranges flashes as a large sound woke him up and then he saw black.

 

When Oliver came back into consciousness, he coughed up water viciously, sittng up. Looking around, Oliver saw he was on the shores of some strange island. The next thing he noticed was that Nyssa and the ship were no where in sight.

 

 


	6. I will burn everthing  down until i find my brother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm not sure if ya'll like the way I do it from Nyssa P.O.V most of the time but its fun for me....... I wrote this already but I'm such a dumbass, I was previewing it and that made me think it was posted. So I exited out my tabs and I realized I didn't post it. Sorry if its crappy.

Nyssa had never been angrier in her life. She never thought she  _could_ be this angry. After two weeks, she finally figured out what happened to the ship. More importantly,  _who_ happened. A man, an assassin, by the name of Khiana blew up the haul. She didn't know why and she didn't want to know. All she wanted was for that man to feel pain. Nyssa wanted revenge.

" _ADMIT IT! YOU KILLED MY BROTHER! ADMIT IT!"_ Nyssa yelled in rage. They were standing in the temple. Khiana was kneeling in front of her with shackled hands. Two assassins closely followed. 

"I killed your brother." He scoffed. "What? I thought you wanted to be Heir?" Nyssa gave a warning growl. "It took you  _two weeks_ to figure out who did it! I thought this was  _the league of assassins_. I thought you had connections, were smart. Could have fooled me. To be honest, I thought you'd figured it out sooner. My name literally means  _betrayal._  I Guess you were in no hurry to avenge your brother." This man was playing with fire. Its like he had a death wish. Though, the laughter in his voice was no more, as Nyssa growled, and cut off four of Khiana's fingers. He screamed in agony.

" I guess you were in no hurry to keep your fingers." Then, Nyssa leaned in close to him and whispered in his ear. 

"You will suffer worst than the grave. Worst than any mere punishment and torture. You will live in pain for months before finally, I let you die. But it will be done from when your body is too weak to keep living and has no choice but to perish." Then, she stood. "Take him away."

Nyssa knew his plans backfired. He expected to be murdered quickly in the quake of Nyssa's rage. He was wrong.

The two assassins behind him grabbed his arms and dragged him away. " _WAITTTTTTT! YOUR BROTHER ! HE'S STILL ALIVE!"_

Ra's stepped up to Nyssa. "Al Sa Him was a great lost, but he is dead. " Nyssa growled at her father.  "He is your son. He is my brother. I  _will_ avenge him." 

With that, Nyssa turned and walked quickly out the room.

* * *

After Oliver figured the boat nor his sister would be coming for him anytime soon, he headed inland. Oliver wasn't worried for her safety. He knew she was alive. He saw Nyssa, briefly, when he was being sucked out the yacht. While Oliver had lost his arrows, bow, and sword to the water, he was still an assassin. Oliver figured that was a plus, that he wasn't totally useless. While he was looking for a good place to build shelter, Oliver heard rustling. He quickly hid behind a tree and saw four men in black with large guns approaching. When they were just passing him, Oliver swiftly attacked, unarmed and murdered them. 

" _I'm not alone on this island."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me if you think I should add Slade up in here, because I'm not sure and I want to meet you're needs! :)


	7. Meet Slade Wilson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For all the people who didn't want Slade, I'm truly sorry. I did majority rule. I want to give a shoutout to Hiver_Frost_Elf for giving me a little inspiration!

Oliver was surprised in the least to say when he saw the plane. To be fair, it was cracked in half, but it was just sitting there. Quickly though, Oliver became aware of the smell, sound, and presence of another inside the crash. Silently, he creeped up to the opening and saw a man with his hand reaching towards a sword holstered on his back. Somehow, he heard Oliver's deathly silent footsteps. Silently,  Oliver climbed onto the roof and lied flat. He watched, as moments later, a brown haired man walked out the fuselage. He had a sword, a katana, in one hand. _"Nice brand."_ Oliver thought. The man looked around, closing his eyes to listen. After about two minutes, he deemed everything safe and headed back inside. 

Oliver planned to act like he was a useless kid and stumble into the plane. When the time was right, He would kill the other. Looking down at himself he ripped off some of the clothing so the man wouldn't deem him suspicious. After he had done that, Oliver climbed down and breathed in deeply before heading inside. 

"Hello?" He called out. In mere seconds, a blade was pressed against his throat. "Twitch, and I'll cut out your vocal cords." Growled a gruff voice. Oliver desperately wanted to grab the blade and rip out  _his_ vocal cords, but suppressed the urge. "Hey, hey man! I'm not a threat! I was just trying to stay away from those men in black and I stumbled into your.......plane." Oliver fake pleaded. He hated how he sounded right now. 

"That's not a reason to not kill you." The man simply replied. 

"Look, I'm sure I can help you with something! Give me a chance." Oliver said. The man actually released him and now Oliver could get a better look at him. He was shorter than him by a few inches, with dark brown orbs and hair. 

He grinned savagely. "Slade Wilson." he said, holding out a hand.

"Oliver," He figured it best not to mention his last name just in case the Slade man knew of the Al Ghoul name. "Ross." Oliver hid his hesitation and shook Slade's hand. Suddenly, Slade tried to flip him, but Oliver twisted Slade's hand back in a wrist breaking hold, and spun him around. The fight was incredibly hard for both men and they each received bruises. 

In the end, Oliver had stolen both Katana's, and pinned Slade to the wall with one to his neck and one to his leg. Just as Oliver was about to slice his neck. Slade threw a small knife he had hidden on him at Oliver's side. Oliver dodged it but the distraction allowed Slade time to move. Eventually , both men ended up on their backs, out of breath. 

"Where'd you learn to fight, kid?" Slade panted.

"Ever heard of a man name Ra's Al Ghoul?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the shortness, but I felt I should end it. Besides, I want to right a Growin' Up Raptor chapter tonight.


	8. Nightmares and Stories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if I'll write on here as much as on my raptor one but that one has been more fun to write lately.

"So you're Ra's Al Ghul's son?" 

"Yep, Heir to the demon." Oliver said, sitting by a fire. Slade and him had eventually gotten up and Oliver explained a little about himself. Now, it was night and they were still exchanging stories. "So, where'd you learn to fight?" Oliver asked. Slade looked up from his gloved hands. "Might of heard of it. Called ASIS." 

"I have." He replied. "Heard about it or killed from it?" Slade questioned. Oliver hesitated for a moment. He wasn't sure if Slade was touchy on the subject, but he didn't seem the type to him, so he went on. "A bit of both." Slade made a sound that sounded like a huffed laugh. "Many men," The Australian said, pointing at him,"Have wanted to meet you. Many were scared they would die."

Oliver looked at him, meeting his eyes. "What's it like outside the league?" He asked. Slade stared back at him. "You've never left league headquarters?" Slade said. "Nanda Parbat," Oliver said, quick to correct. " And I have. It was just for missions or my Ra's training." 

"Now that I'm thinking about it, you aren't dressed like league, nor do you have any weapons." Slade noticed. Oliver wondered when they would get to that. "Well, I didn't come here by choice. I was shipwrecked. Water took all my weapons. As for clothes, they're on the roof." Oliver said truthfully. Slade actually looked taken aback. "Why are your clothes on the roof?" He asked. "Yeah, I wasn't sure if you would realize that wasn't exactly normal clothes...." Ollie replied sheepishly. "So why'd you act so defenseless?" Slade asked again. "Well my plan was to act defenseless and then kill you because you wouldn't suspect it but that didn't work." Oliver explained. Slade titled his head a little. "Well, it was a good plan. Alright," He said, standing up. "Lets get some shut eye and I'll explain about the men on the island in the morning." 

Oliver nodded. He decided not to mention that he killed four earlier. " And how do I know you wont kill me in my sleep?" Oliver asked. "Oh, no," Slade said turning to look at him. He was wearing a black tank top and bundled clothe was in his hand. "You're useful to me." Slade was grinning savagely. "And I know you wo'nt kill me because I'd stop you."

Oliver smirked a bit at Slade. At least the dude was fun. He had showed Oliver the cot he would sleep on and Oliver went to sleep restlessly. 

_"No! Don't hurt her!" Yelled a bloody man tied to a chair. A man in league uniform stood in front of him, bloody sword in hand. A little girl was held in his iron grip as she cried. "Tell me where the plans are, where Damien Darhk is or she will leave here with a few less body parts." Said the assassin in a deep voice._

_"I don't know anything! I swear! Please don't hurt my daughter!" Begged the man. The assassin growled, throwing pack the sword. It cut off one of her blonde pigtails. The tortured man let out a wail. "Now, Mr. Brooker, which finger do you think she could part without hmmm?"_

_"No, please, please..." Brooker cried. "Eeny meeny miny mo.." The shadow cut off all five, earning a childish scream of pain. In the end, the assassin ended up with a dead man and child. No information. Walking out the warehouse whiling ridding his blade of blood, the man took off his mask and the young face of 18 year old Oliver was underneath._  

"Rise and shine , Kid." Slade grinned, shaking him. Oliver rubbed his eyes and sat up.


	9. badasses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be NO Shado. I like her but its to complicated to add her. BTW, sorry. I know I haven't posted in three days in total on my account. Even longer for this one.

Oliver was filled in on Fyers' mission, who he and the mercenaries were. That Slade was stranded here when his plane crashed on his way back to ASIS. He understood the mission to get off the island and Oliver would gladly go back to the league. To Nyssa. The plan was for Slade to take out the occurring six men guarding the right side of the tower and Oliver would take out the five towards the left and then the tower guard.

"You have bows?" Oliver asked, looking in a large weapon holding container. Slade glanced up from where he was holstering a knife. "I got swords and guns. I like swords. I'm sure you like swords." He chimed. Oliver grabbed a sword, examining the blade.

"I'm going to make a bow and some arrows." He mumbled. Slade sent him a deadpanned look. "Now's not really the time." Slade said, gesturing with his hands. "I know now isn't the time. I was just saying." 

"Well, I thought you meant you were going to do it now."

This time, Oliver sent Slade a deadpanned looked. "I know we clearly don't have time."

" Well, you seemed pretty set on it kid. Wasn't sure." Slade said, taking the lead and walking out the plane.

* * *

"Shit." Slade murmured, and listening closely Oliver could hear noise from what he assumed were the mercenaries. Slipping behind to opposite trees beside the trail they were walking, they both unholstered their weapons. Listening with deadly silence in the air, Oliver could make out eight feet. Four men. He held up two fingers to Slade and then pointed at him, then did the same gesture towards himself. The other man nodded silently. 

When the unsuspecting men just reached the tree, Oliver watched Slade slice through the men's guts. The other two had a moment of surprise before Oliver sliced one through the back of neck and the other through his back, having dropped out the tree.

"Nice," Slade said, then added- "Dramatic, but nice."

Oliver suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "Gets the job done."

* * *

By the time they reached Fyers' camp, it was nightfall. The two bunched up behind a large fallen over tree that a hill began to form through. "Those," Slade said, pointing towards five mercenaries, " are the ones you're gonna take. Then the tower." 

Oliver nodded and he rushed on to deliver. They were easy to kill. He just had to make sure that no one saw him or the bodies and if they did, kill them before they could radio for help. Oliver thought it felt quite like assassin missions and will a pang of pain, that Nyssa wasn't there. 

"1,016." He muttered to himself after killing all six of the men. Moments later, Slade bustled in grinning. "Lets get the hell out of here."

Slade tried the communicator and was annoyed to be given a code. "Of all the things that move and breathe upon the earth." Cracked a voice over the radio speaker. Slade silenced it. 

"What?" He said. Oliver sifted through his memory. It sounded so familiar. "Um...um...Of all the things that move and breathe upon the earth  _nothing is bred that is weaker than man."_ Oliver knew he had it right.

"You sure Kid?" Slade questioned. 

"I'm positive." 

Slade looked weary and reluctant, but said into the microphone -"Nothing is bred that is weaker than man."

"Roger that towerhawk. Landing in 3 o hundred hours."

Both men sighed and Slade grinned. 

"Good job kid."


	10. Mission gone awary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not posting much. It's summer after all . A girl's gotta enjoy herself ;)

Six hours ago, Oliver pushed a bled out, dead man off a chair and sat down in it, looking out through the bullet proof windows. Slade had retired to the floor, leaning against the door. They figured it was safe enough to rest there seemingly as no one at the main base knew of the little fiasco.  

As morning hours approached, Slade had drifted off with Oliver promising not to get him killed. Oliver had replied with : "As long as I don't end up needing a human shield." 

Now it was morning and in two hours the plane that would evacuate them from this hell would arrive. Oliver stood from the blood stained chair and walked over to Slade. Shaking him awake, Slade's eyes flew open in panic and his hand shot through the air. Oliver grabbed it before it could reach his throat, twisting it around.

"Slade," He started calmly. "Wherever you are, its fake. You're safe. Well, as safe as you can be on this hellish island." Slade's face seemed to visibly relax and Oliver released the grip on his hand.

"Oh, um, thanks kid." He said, scrambling to his feet. Slade gripped his wrist, moving it. "Jesus kid, you didn't have to be so ruff. You left a bruise." He was obviously trying to rid the tension. "Well, you did try to choke me." Oliver stated in a matter-of-the-fact voice.

"So I'm guessing you didn't end up needing a human shield." Slade asked.

"No, you wouldn't have a bruise, you'd have a hole in you stomach if I did."

"Very nice, kid."

They stared out the window in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before it was broken by Oliver.

"You know, I just keep thinking I should start speaking in only Arabic. Madha 'ant yufakir?"

Slade stared at him incredulously. "What the hell ?" 

"What?" Said Oliver defensively. "Its my home language."

Slade smirked at him "Ranhou Yishi Jiang kaishi zhi shouhua putongghua."

" Yishi  nenggou shouhua na tai." Oliver smirked back.

Slade actually looked impressed. "Well, damn." He breathed.

After another few minutes of silence, the two killers heard the rumbling of the supply plane. They looked at each other before racing outside to let it know where to land. As Slade and Oliver looked into the sky, an object flew towards the plane and it blew up into pieces, catching fire. 

"Damn it!" Slade growled as they watched their escape be destroyed and several men with guns emerge around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oliver speaking Arabic: What do you think?  
> Slade speaking mandarin: Then I would start to speak mandarin.  
> Oliver speaking mandarin: I can speak that too.


	11. Flaw in the body

"Try not to get killed." Oliver whispered. Slade only picked it up with his ASIS training because of the low tone it was said in. 

"Oh, I won't." Slade smirked back, crouching into a fighting stance, readying his sword.

For the first time, Oliver saw Fyers. He emerged from the gun burdened men, hands behind his back with a slight grin on his face. Training taught Oliver to look over opponents and he noticed a silver Desert Eagle .50 caliber in a holster. 

"I could keep you alive. Let my men have fun with you _,_ but I believe the smell of rotting blood would be horrendous and I don't really have the time. Pardon my rude ways." Fyers said, using hand gestures before  turning back into the swarming men. The badass duo saw one clenched fist raise, and unclench. The mercenaries guns fired and Slade seemed to watch in slow motion as Oliver deflected bullets. One was coming at Oliver's front and he blocked it with a wave of his sword. At the same time however, a bullet fired from behind. Amazingly, the young assassin flipped the sword behind him and flicked it out the way just in time.

"You're going to have to teach me that one." Slade said, back flipping off an incoming man and literally cutting his head off. 

"You  _want_ me to fire a gun at you? And only if you teach me that." Oliver replied, referring to how quickly the whole head was taken off while he disarmed a man, kicked him in the stomach, and then rolled over him to snap his neck.

"You volunteering your own head kid? Because I'm not volunteering mine." Slade said, taking out two more men.

"We can use one of these douches. Okay, I say we make a run for it." Oliver suggested. Slade glanced at their surroundings. 

"I say we go with that plan. 1,2, _3!"_ Slade instructed. 

The two threw aside the men they had been dealing with and bolted to the underbrush. They made it past the edge of the forest when Oliver let out a hardly audible hiss of pain. 

"What's wrong kid?" Slade questioned, looking back at him. They had now made it out of the range of gunshots and thankfully, weren't followed into the trees.

Oliver gritted his teeth and let out a -"Nothing." Trying to make it sound casual. 

The trek back the fuselage was tiresome for Oliver who was loosing blood despite his best efforts to stop the bleeding. When they did finally reach it, the sun was painting the sky orange.

"Okay Slade. We do have a problem." Oliver hissed, Pulling off the shirt he wore. He dropped down onto a cot with a grunt of pain. Slade rushed over to him, growling a- "Kid-" Before being cut off.

"Look, I didn't tell you back in the woods because I knew you'd do some kind of crazy, maniac thing. We're in the north china sea, right?" Oliver asked suddenly. Slade paused from where he was observing the wound, scars and the leagues mark. "What?" He said sharply, applying pressure to the bullet hole again.

"I need to stitch this." Slade sighed, standing. Oliver glanced to where he was gathering the needed materials. "Can I trust you not to screw up my back?" He replied critically. 

"I've done stitches before. Even to myself. But kid, I have to dig the bullet out."

Oliver just inhaled deeply through his nose. "Grab a dagger and start digging. "

"I know that pain can blind a man, so would you like me to tie your hands together so you can't kill me?" Slade asked. Oliver nodded and after his hands were tied, Slade began the process. After a few minutes of Oliver grunting and hissing in pain, the bullet was out and Slade was stitching him up.  When the ex mercenary finished, Oliver spoke.

"Are we in the North China Sea?"

"Yes."

Oliver sighed in relief.  "There should be an herb on this island. If you can find it, it will keep infection away and up my chances of survival."

"So, what?" Slade said, now crouching in front of the younger man. "You want me to get.... a magical island herb?"

Oliver sighed, placing a frustrating hand on his forehead. " _Please_ don't make a habit of calling it that, but yes. A magical island herb. It's actually called Yuhe.  Heal." 

Oliver gave Slade a description and told him they'd be a few feet from water. That they had a strong, rich smell. Slade told him he'd be back in a few hours and not to die. Which Oliver replied he would be damned if he were killed on Lian Yu.

* * *

True to his word, about two and a half hours later, Slade returned. "This it?" He asked, holding a strongly scented bowl down to Oliver's face. The young man smelled it, then coughed, looking away. "Yep."

"When I was out there, I went ahead and checked around. No one followed us in and no one is looking for us now. How do I serve these?"

Oliver swung his legs over the side of the cot, standing. "You've done enough, really. Thank you." He said taking the bowl.

Slade didn't protest as he grinded them up and put them into water, drinking it. The assassin grimaced at the taste. "Tea? That's going to fix your problems?" Slade barked. 

"Very effective tea." Oliver shot back. 

"Where'd you learn about that anyways kid?"

"My sister, Nyssa. We would sit in her room when we were younger, sometimes we still do, and she'll read ancient, Arabic books to me." 

"I've heard tales of her. She is a good warrior."

"She is, she really is. And a good sister."

 

 


	12. Escape chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovelies! Enjoy this chapter

"Slade!" Oliver called, running into the fuselage from his patrol. Even though Fyers and his men left about a month ago because they had succeeded in their plan to blow up the cargo plane, they both decided it would still be a good idea. " There are three men on the island." Slade stood from where he was sharpening his katana and met Oliver with serious eyes.

"What? Where did they come from?"

"They came from the east. About 50 yards from there and about two hundred yards out to sea, there's a freighter. What I'm trying to say, is that the three men left a boat on the shore."

Slade rushed past him, looking back and saying- "C'mon." Before moving again. The two trained men ran the two miles it took to get there in about ten minutes before they reached the cliff that led down to the east shore. "Kid," Slade said, panting slightly. "That's not going to be able to brave the ocean."

"Well, even so lets get it, hide it if we have to and try and figure out the order on that freighter so we can take over it." Oliver said, already climbing down the cliff edge. Slade followed, pushing himself downwards. When Slade and Oliver reached the boat, Oliver stopped.

"Shit. Slade, there are two men decking our right. I don't know where the other one is.." Oliver whispered.

Slade supplied him with the last bit of information. "The third one is coming from up above. Run or hold our ground?"

"Well, you have a machine gun pointed at your chest and I have two AK 47's pointed at my head. Either way, we can die and unless you recently learned how to throw a sword quick enough to kill them before they kill us, I say we run."

"Got it kid." Slade, being closer to the boat edge, slunk of the side and starting running. The man with the machine gun following, shooting the sand as he missed his target. 

"Don't die kid!" Slade shouted over his shoulder.

"Not planning on it!" Was his reply. Oliver realized he was in more deep shit then Slade. While he was sure the other man led away machine gun guy, he had two people pointing automatic weapons that could fire 600 rounds per minute at him. "Fuck it," He decided. "Pray for me Nyssa!" 

And then he was running. Oliver flinched when the loud noises began, men shouting. He saw sand fly as bullets pelted the ground. He was just making it around a cliff side when a sharp, searing pain started to spread like fire in the back and stomach. Oliver stumbled. Looking down, he realized that a bullet had made it way through his back and was now probably resting between or in his organs.

He took the fact that he was still moving as a positive, just glad he was still moving. Oliver at least knew he wasn't paralyzed. The young assassin couldn't see Slade and he was becoming light headed from the effort of running with blood pouring out of him and pain searing in his abdomen. 

Suddenly, a sharp, blunt force connected to the back of his head and he fell into the sand. Blackness edged into his vision as he saw three men standing over him. Oliver was briefly aware of the fact that he was dragged back to the boat. Someone pressed a clothe to his wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding. Oliver was pretty sure he would have internal bleeding from the shot and at the same time was wondering why they were helping him after shooting him.  _"Probably for questioning."_ His brain supplied. 

As blackness continued to fill his vision, he noticed the pain was subsiding. And then he heard yelling. Slade! Slade was yelling something along the lines of "KID!" Two of the men jumped up with the guns and ran out to shoot him but Slade killed them first. The man on the boat with him drove away quickly as Slade continued to yell at them.

"KID! YOU SON OF A BITCH! BRING HIM BACK HERE NOW! "

But the boat kept moving and Oliver's ability of sight faded.

 


	13. Interragating an assassin? Probably not the best idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just enjoy Oliver acting like a cute idiot and annoying Ivo.

Oliver gave a short, breathy gasp when he jerked into consciousness from a sharp pain. As his eyes fluttered open he realized two things. One: He was strapped to a half way reclined chair like one at a dentist. Two: He couldn't break out because of the way his hands were strapped apart from one another. Oliver mentally cursed that. It was an odd position. He was on his side and his arm stretched strangely from it. 

Oliver didn't allow himself to let out any noises of discomfort at a yanking feeling in his back. 

"So he's awake." Said an unfamiliar male voice. Oliver tried to put his head back to find the source of the voice but figured he didn't want his neck to snap from pushing it so far back. He jerked on the restraints. 

"Who are you?" He growled dangerously. The to-be Ra's could hear the smirk on his face through the mans voice.

"Careful now. You wouldn't want to rip the stitches. Unfortunately, you were still unconscious for the removal of the bullet. Would have been interesting to see the reaction and pain resistance for future purposes.... " He said to himself before adding- " I would have had you do it yourself but it seemed hard to reach and you were a little....... busy. Dangerous spot to have a bullet. Nearly punctured your kidney." 

He moved around to face Oliver. "I'm Dr. Anthony Ivo. And you are?"

"An elephant." He scowled. Ivo stood up sighing. "Looks like we have a stubborn one. Ah, I wouldn't do that. Wouldn't want to lay on the stitches." He said, noticing Oliver's attempt to turn onto his back. "Look. I don't want to have to resort to any other......  _methods_ to get you to answer me. So lets try again. Who was the other person on the island with you?" 

"Oh,  _he_ is my imaginary giraffe friend." Oliver nearly smiled. This was his favorite thing to do to captors. Ivo sighed in frustration and walking over to a cabinet, picked up a four inch long, silver rectangular device. Pressing along his exposed ribs, he pressed the device to his skin. Oliver found out it was a taser. 

He didn't make any sounds as it electrified him and he didn't show any emotion. Compared to other torture methods he had received over the years, this was practically nothing. Ivo didn't seemed pleased with Oliver's reaction but went along with it.

"How long have you been on the island?"

"I don't know. Its hard to tell without a watch."

He received bolt of electricity to his damaged stomach, aggravating it.

"Why are you here?"

"I thought it would be a good vacation spot."

The taser traveled across his stomach for about two minutes.

"What is your name? Actually answer me."

"My name is Dr. Anthony Ivo. For some reason, I'm also the captain of a freighter." 

Ivo growled in frustration.  "Zimbock!" A mean looking African American and two other men entered. "Take him to the hang up room. Lets get him responsive."

* * *

Oliver's nose wrinkled a little at the stretch his the chains forced from his arms being strung above his head. Ivo nodded to someone behind him and a deep, sharp pain scratched across his left shoulder blade. He accidently let his lip twitch.

"Now. Who are you?" Ivo asked.

" I am a male human."

Another laceration was added to his shoulder.

"What's your name?"

"Wenn Ale." 

"How long have you been on the island?" 

"I really have no idea." 

Ivo seemed to take the answer and no pain was felt. _'Still got it.'_ Oliver thought. He hadn't been captured in like a decade.

"How did you wind up on this island?" 

"Shipwreck."

"The other man?" 

The information Oliver was giving was useless. And it wasn't because he couldn't handle the torture.

"Plane crashed." 

Ivo walked over to a table and retrieved a picture. It looked like a large bolder.

"You must have explored the island." Ivo began, Oliver nodding absently. "Do you know where this is?" 

"Uh.... There are a lot of rocks on that island.... hmm. Wait. Yes. The southern side of the island." Oliver lied.  That area was on the western side.

"Are you lying?" The Dr. asked, placing down the photos and trying to hide a grin. 

"No." Yes.

A sharp echoed pain to his side.

"Are you sure?" 

"Yes." 

"You're awfully good at taking pain for a simple shipwreck victim..."

"What can I say? I was bit by a lot of dogs when I was little."

"Very well. Unchain him and he will lead us there in the morning." Anthony checked the wounds and then sighed.  "They need stitches. Take care of it Kavan. We need him alive."

 


	14. Discover, no discover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter about Oliver... but without Oliver....

"Daughter, why do you continue to look for him?" Ra's Al Ghoul questioned. Nyssa looked defiantly in his eyes.

"He is alive. I will not abandon him." Ra's took the few steps down the stairs leading from the Lazurus Pit. "How do you know he hasn't perished?"

"I can feel it." 

Ra's shut his eyes before speaking again, as though trying to call calmness to him. "Your brother is dead. He died two years ago. Stop your silly obsession with believing he's alive." Nyssa's face tightened in anger. "How dare you! He was heir to the demon and you believe he is dead. Have you no faith? You trained him!" 

"Why do you care so much for someone who isn't even your real brother!?" Ra's shouted to Nyssa's retreating back. She turned swiftly. " _What?"_

"Its time you've found out. Your brother, my son, is adopted." A Strange mix of sadness and shock painted the assassins face. "Adopted from who?" She asked carefully. 

"A family you may remember. The Queens." Nyssa looked up to see her father standing a mere two feet from her. "That- that was our first mission. He-" She paused for a second. "He killed his father."

"Daughter. Robert Queen may have been the one to assist in his creation, but I, I am his father." Nyssa stepped away from him, feeling a pit sinking in her stomach. Her brother murdered his father without knowing it. 

"You set that up!" Nyssa accused. "That I did my child." He confirmed. 

"You plagued him with the worst sin." Nyssa said. Ra's gestured to nothing in particular, an easy smile gracing his lips. "The league never had a problem with killing before. Especially not you. Or him."

"But his father! Without the knowledge of that!" Nyssa tried to understand her fathers doing. What he did to Ollie.

"I am his father!" Ra's yelled. "Are you not happy I brought him to you?" Nyssa was taken aback for a moment. "Of course I am glad!" She rivalled. "I love my brother with all my heart. He is the greatest thing that's happened to me since mothers passing." Nyssa added softly.

A minutes silence braced the room before Nyssa broke it. "Why did you take him?" Ra's sighed before he dived into explanation. "At the time, I didn't expect him to become so important to the league and its future. Or to us. He was just leverage... wage."

"The league has never had problems with money." Nyssa said with a slight tilt of the head. "No daughter we haven't. That's why it wasn't that type of wage." Ra's continued, holding up a finger. "Originally, it was to have power. Access. Weapons. The Queen family basically controls the city. There's the power. They have connections. Can make things happen. There's my access. Queen Consolidated built weapons. But then... he became more."

"Why didn't you ever tell him?" 

"Oh if he knew, I wasn't sure if he'd hate me. Or try to go to the Queens. Anything is a possibility with your brother." 

"So he could be alive." Nyssa couldn't help but input. When her father sighed in exasperation, she hurried on. "Even with the fact that he gave you access, weapons and power, why not kidnap him until you received that and promised to kidnap or kill him if they betrayed the deal? Or even someone they knew?"

"I felt a power in your brother. Leaving him with the Queens would have been a waste of talent. Besides, Al Sa Him would have grown up to become a playboy. I turned him into something greater." Ra's said and then after a minute of silence -"You have a step sister now. Thea Queen."

Nyssa kept a passive face but when she turned to leave, allowed a small smile to creep into her expression.

* * *

"Have you found out what his name is yet?" Ivo asked Heras. "No, sir. There are no facial recognition on him  _anywhere_ , he basically doesn't exist." Heras responded. 

"Can't you do anything to change that?" The doctor asked. Heras turned to look up at him. "Sir, maybe with better resources, But we don't have the best technology here."

Ivo sighed in frustration, putting his face in his hands and turning to walk away. "Just keep working."

                                                                                                                ::::::::::::::::::::

" Why exactly did you stitch the prisoner back up?" Zimbock asked with an attitude. "The warm up round. He has to be in well enough condition to lead us to the mirakuru."

" How the hell do you know that he will give up? Seemed hell bent on acting like a dumbass earlier." Zimbock snorted. Ivo turned to face him swiftly, with a tight smile on his face. "Well I trust you to take care of that." He said before stalking off to his quarters.

* * *

Slade would be damned if he didn't get the kid back. He was useful and the two killers had actually become friends. What he hated the most is that he didn't know what was happening to the kid. He could have been being tortured and Slade was sitting around like a useless lump trying to figure out a way onto the ship and running death scenes through his mind.

Sure, the kid was an assassin. Son of the demon no less. Slade was positive he could handle himself, but there was still the chance. And then, of course, he could just be laying lifelessly and bloody somewhere on the freighter.

He sighed and shook his head as he continued to sharpen his katana by the fire. He knew one thing. He  _was_ getting the kid back. One way or another.


	15. He won't give in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BEFORE you start yelling at me, I'm sorry. I haven't been posting as much as I'd like to, but I'll try posting at least twice a week. One for this and one for JW.

"Where is the stone?" Ivo asked.

"Lot of stones on that island. Going to have to be more specific." Oliver answered. Ivo punched him hard, to which a trickle a blood left Oliver's lip. The Dr. sauntered away with a strange, accusing grin on. Pointing a finger at him, Ivo spoke. 

"Alright. What's your story, huh? My men can't find any information on you, no name, no records. You're resistant to torture....."

"Maybe you don't punch hard enough." 

Ivo gave him a look, turning his head to the side. "Who do you think I am?" Oliver asked.

" _I_ think you're are an idiot. A secretive idiot who doesn't know what's good for him." Ivo replied.

"Okay. My turn. I think you are an asshole who really needs to check what kind of doctor he is, and can't punch someone if his life depended on it." The Heir snarked. Ivo growled, gripping a dagger tightly in his hand, and threw it at Oliver. The assassin swiftly ducked his shoulder. 

"Careful," Oliver started. "You really should watch where you throw that thing. Nearly hit me." Ivo swallowed his anger, and stalked out the room, Zimbock not far behind.

"He isn't telling us like you said he would." The second in command states. Ivo sighed in frustration. "I know. Well it looks like you'll have to get more creative. I'll be in my quarters." 

"Got it boss." 

* * *

"String 'em up." Zimbock commanded. Two men standing by the door walked over to Oliver and made the mistake of unlocking his chains. In a flash of movement, the two were unconscious on the ground. Zimbock hastily grabbed a large gun off the table.

"One step and I shoot." He warned. Oliver took a step forward and deftly dodged the bullets fired before grabbing the gun, pushing it to the side, and punching the man twice, knocking him to the ground.

Channeling his stealth skills, Oliver crept out the room and was surprised to only run into two men. ………..Which he ran over board. Looking over, he muttered to himself.  "This probably won't kill me." And jumped. The splash surprisingly didn't attract any of the people aboard and he actually sat there a second to see if bullets would start firing at him. When they didn't, he began swimming towards lands.

* * *

Finally reaching the island, Oliver would be lying if he said the poorly stitched knife wound wasn't aching. He sat on the sand for a second to breath before forcing himself to get up and start moving. It was important he got as far into the jungle as possible, hopefully back to the fuselage. 

By the time he made it about one hundred yards into the thick evergreen, Oliver heard voices. He rerouted to a more secretive path, though it would take longer and began the hike. The assassin did come across a few men, all of which saw their last day. 

By sundown, Oliver didn't hear the men anymore and figured they were called back in. With satisfaction, he swore he could hear Ivo's annoyed and angry voice.

With a slight limp, Oliver made his way to the door of the fuselage and smirked when Slade didn't hear/ acknowledge him. Leaning against the door frame, he spoke. "Wow, I'm gone a few days and you get lazy, sitting on your ass." He teased.

Slade looked up sharply and several emotions passed through his expression. The first being relief. Then worry. "Kid. You okay?" Slade asked, standing. 

"A few bumps and bruises." Oliver dismissed when Slade tried helping him to sit. He did sit down though. 

"That's a knife wound." Slade pointed out in an obvious tone.  "Really? I didn't notice." Oliver replied. Slade looked, deadpanning, at Oliver. 

"They stitched you up?" The mercenary asked, circling Oliver and taking note of wounds in his back and burn marks peeking out from what was left of the shirt. 

"Did a shitty job, but yeah."

"Huh. Well now you get to spend time with me. Want me to unstitch them and them stitch you back up?"

"No! Why would you unstitch stitches!?" 

"To make them look better."

"I don't need them to be pretty, I need them to work. I didn't know you started a beauty shop while I was gone too."

"Oh yeah kid. Really raking the money in. We'll be out of this place in no time with all the money I'm making."

A comfortable silence enveloped them.

"You sure you don't want me to fix the stitches?"

"NO!"

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started this chapter yesterday, so I thought about you guys earlier than now. Feel loved.


	16. Bromance in the forest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning!!! This chapter was Not planned so I'm almost certain it will be bromance.... lots of bromance.... BTW, this is OOC

Slade and Oliver were training outside the fuselage in a light rainy mist. Despite the rainfall, the sun was shinning and it was one of those days Oliver appreciated. His injuries healed over decently, leaving scars in their path and Slade only just cleared him to spar this week. Oliver, in all his stubbornness, had protested, saying he could spar the day after he came back. But then again, he also went through a few measures to make sure Slade didn't jump him in his sleep and remove the stitches. Paranoid, as Slade called it.

When Oliver did land a particularly hard blow to the other mans face, he complained. 

"You gave me head trauma." Slade grumbled, rubbing where the bamboo baton hit. Oliver sighed in exasperation, holding his right arm ( which still held the makeshift weapon) out to the side. 

"I didn't give you head trauma."

"Yes you did."

"I just hit you."

"Yeah, on the head. You caused trauma on my head. Head trauma." 

"Baby." 

"Oh yeah? What about you? ' Its cold. Give me a new shirt. This ones all wet and torn.'" Slade said in a mocking tone.

Oliver cocked an eyebrow at him. " Umm.. that's called survival. Not being a baby." 

"Okay. You're right. But I will get you." Slade promised, pointing his index finger at Oliver.  Oliver in turn hit the baton at Slade's side where his kidneys would be, but not hard enough to cause damage.

"You gonna say I gave you kidney damage next?"

"No...." Slade started. "Because you said it first."

* * *

The next time the two took a walk around the island on a perimeter check, it was Oliver who needed help. They both un-winded around each other and seeing as they hadn't found any of Ivo's men, weren't in their usual ' If I hear one sound, I will murder you' mood. Why should they have been? They were crossing a stream for God's sake!

"Uh... Slade. I need your help."

"Why kid? What's the mat-?" Slade said turning, and when he did, he burst out laughing.

"No, no, no. Don't laugh at me, help me." Oliver said, tone clipped.

"Alright, alright. But I'm holding this against you." 

Slade walked over to Oliver and stooped down before stopping and slowing standing back up. "Kid, how did you even get stuck?" 

"I was walking and my foot slipped in between the rocks. Just get me out already." Oliver, noting that Slade was stepping back from him. 

"I might leave you here." 

"Really Slade? What, so I can test the water before you decide to walk through it or use it?" 

"Exactly. That's really important you know. With the beauty shop business especially."

"Slade," Oliver said in a deadly calm voice. " Remove my foot from this rock or I will murder you."

"You love me too much to murder me." Slade then added at Oliver's look- "But fine."

 


	17. Brotherly Disputes and Plans That Somehow, Actually Worked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello My Lovelies! Long time no see! Anyhow, I can promise you bromance but can I promise you romance? No! No I cannot!
> 
> Ignore me and just read

It had been about a month or two since Oliver had been held hostage by Ivo and since then, Slade and Oliver's lives had actually been rather calm. There had been the occasional killing of men and then having to lay low, but those were just minor casualties.

They had come up with a plan- Or rather Oliver had come up with a plan that Slade wasn't too sure on- to take the Amazo and get the hell off of Lian Yu. 

"It is going to work if you just stick to the plan!" Oliver explained, hitting the paper repeatedly with his hand for emphasis.

"No its not Kid. There are too many of them. Armed with large guns." Slade told him.

Oliver raised an eyebrow, pointing a finger at the slightly shorter man. "Aren't you the one who always says it doesn't matter who has a gun, it matters who has more skill?"

"Yeah," Slade sighed. "And its true but there at least 40 men on that ship. Even with your new handy dandy bow you made, one of us are probably going to get shot."

"Are you doubting your own skills, Slade?"

"Are you actually going through with this plan?"

Slade and Oliver stood in silence for a few minutes.

"So, are you dou-" 

"Oliver."

* * *

"I don't know why I ever let you talk me into doing this." Slade said loudly above the wind.

"Its a great idea!" Oliver said back.

"Its  _your_ idea!"

"Well, if you didn't have two parachutes we wouldn't be doing it!" The young assassin declared.

"If I had know I would have hid one!" Slade said.

"We could have shared!" Oliver shot back.

They both pulled the parachute strings, and jumped off the cliff, the wind carrying them to the freighter. Their landings made small thuds and rather quickly, several men were on them.

Oliver dodged a bullet, but the small, dangerous object raced towards the back of Slade's shoulder. Oliver almost didn't hit it, but managed to move it out the way just in time.

"Point!" He yelled to Slade.

"Point!" He shouted back, killing one of Oliver's men for him.

"Oh come on! That was unneeded and uncalled for!" He complained. The former ASIS agent chuckled deeply and when the men around them were nothing more then a bloody pile, Oliver called out directions.

"You get to the bridge, I'll go eliminate some more." Oliver told his partner as he ran off to the lower level. On his way down, Oliver had had to quickly throw a bomb over board while wondering what the hell they were thinking considering the fact that they were on a boat.

The bow and arrow was really helpful in acquiring his job of killing. Oliver observed that they had a cell block on this floor full of prisoners. He would figure out what to do with them later. They weren't an immediate threat.

Making his way back to Slade, Oliver saw through a small window that Ivo had a gun pointed at Slade but Slade was too far away to disarm him. Sighing and turning back around, Oliver ran to the back deck and dived into the large pipe that led into the air vent system.

Eventually he found his way to the vent that was above Ivo. Slade of course heard him. Oliver could see the mans smirk through the small slits of the vent.

"Now, where is that  stupid little weasel?" He heard Ivo sneer. 

"He's not as stupid as he seems." Slade stalled, then added, "And only I can call him stupid."

Oliver took that as his que, and sprung down from the air vent, tackling Ivo the ground.

"Hey Slade, guess what?" 

"What?" 

"I'm not dead."

 


	18. Damn it, Ivo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My dearest Mythical Children, I don't know how long its been since I posted a chapter but I'm sorry for not doing it sooner.

"Your men are dead, and you're captured Ivo. I guess we get to have a fun revenge game of what happened to me during my lovely stay. Only, we're 10x better at it." Oliver said, staring at Ivo from where Slade was holding him near the steering wheel. Said man looked down, licking his lips before looking back up with the expression of unsureness. The next thing the two Killers knew, Ivo had thrown himself into Slade; hitting the steering wheel.

"Oliver!" Slade called. "We've made it this far kid, if you want to live, listen to me." 

Oliver spared a glance at Ivo, before going over to help Slade. "Okay, kid. Pull that lever exactly when I say to or we'll crash into those rocks." He said, pointing to a steel lever on the dashboard that was out of his reach. Oliver could see the large, jagged rocks approaching them quickly and got into place.

After a moment, Slade gave the signal. "NOW!" He shouted. Oliver yanked down on the control just as Slade heavily turned the wheel. A hoarse yell emitted from Slade that sounded like his battle cry. Oliver turned his head into his shoulder at the impact. The ship didn't crash but the rocks scraped along the side of the freighter. 

Slade and Oliver looked at each other as the Amazo came to a stop, still usable. Until, they noticed a lacking of Ivo. Turning, the partners saw Ivo standing at the other side of the room, a grenade in hand. That signature evil, open teethed smile played across his face as his tongue came up to lick the bottom of his top row of teeth.

"Are you mad?" Slade asked rhetorically. "Throw that and the whole ships blows. We'll all die. You along with it!" 

"I don't care. Not anymore. Like your friend stated. My men are gone. My mission.... I failed it. And I'm not going to find the Mirakuru. My wife's forgetting me, I can't help her...." Ivo said the last part quietly, though both of them heard it.

"Ivo. Think about this. About what your doing." Oliver warned. 

"I have thought of it. Besides, you're just going to kill me anyways. I can't help but thinking this will be less painful. The pipe behind me," Ivo said, grenade holding hand flicking to it quickly. "Is filled with Methane. A bigger boom."

Just as he was about to unleash the grenade clip, Oliver bolted towards him. Grenade, unleashed, midair, and Oliver batted it towards Slade with his sword. In momentary surprise, the former ASIS agent's eyebrows raised before he sliced through the explosive with his katana. Fore extra measures, Slade broke a window and through it into the frothy blue ocean.

"Good job. Thanks for understanding my plan." Oliver praised.

"Well, you did throw a grenade at me." Slade said gruffly.

Before either of them knew what had happened, they heard a clicking noise, the sound of an object bouncing across metal, and then a boom.

Oliver was thrown backwards into the wall. He lost consciousness for a few minutes before regaining it. His head was pounding. It felt like absolute hell and he couldn't hear anything except white noise. The room was spinning, fading to black once in awhile. His chest was exploding in pain, and something wet was sticking to his face. Oliver saw himself bending a few fingers before looking up to see Slade slumped against a wall about ten feet away. Blood caked his face and his leg was twitched. Oliver limply moved his head to see Ivo, sprawled on the floor. Blood also caked his face and both of his legs were bent at odd angles.

Oliver tried to keep his eyes open, but he was just so tired and everything hurt. And then it didn't.


	19. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I already bought the shovel and partially dug the hole. You don't even have to kill me first, you could just bury me alive. But WAIT! I'm so extremely sorry for not posting in forever. 
> 
>  
> 
> (my sad excuse of an apology that you will hopefully accept)
> 
>  
> 
> On with the show!.... or story? … I'm not sure.
> 
> (haha you're probably so tired of my attempts at humor)

The world was spinning and Oliver's head was pounding, making everything around him spin and throb. He grunted at the pain that he became acquainted with. Oliver slowly pushed his upper half of the sand beneath him. 

"Slade...." He muttered. The assassin saw said man about ten feet laying face down in the sand where he began twitching and groaning. Blood was still caked to his face, though not as much as before and since it was dried, only a little sand stuck in it. About fifteen feet away, Ivo was sprawled out, showing no sign of awaking. Oliver could see the steady rise and fall of the mans chest however, so at least Ivo was alive.

Oliver presumed they all washed up on shore after the explosion and the Amazo and Ivo probably got the worst of it since he was closest to the grenade. Looking out to sea, he cursed quietly. The freighter was half sunk. Not going anywhere.

"Slade." Oliver said, shaking him slightly. "Hey, wake up. C'mon. Slade!" The ASIS agent did wake up, almost punching Oliver in the face. 

"Hey, buddy. It's me, Oliver. No need to punch me." 

Slade groaned in pain, the movement of turning over to try and punch Oliver jostling his injuries. A hand came up to rub at his eye as he cracked the other open to look at his partner. "Oliver?"

"Yes, that is my name. Come on, does anything feel broken... or punctured?" Oliver asked, gripping Slade's forearm to pull him up to a standing position.

Slade grimaced and in a rare show of pain, responded. "Just about everything." The Australian groaned.  The pair did a mixture of limping and walking until they reached Ivo's not-so-dead body.

"Eh, he didn't drown." Slade said, poking Ivo's side with his boot toe. His tone showed some sort of disgusted/amused/humored mix.

"No, so now we get to kill him." Oliver informed him.

"Yippee." Slade said with fake joy, bending down. " Help me, kid. I'm injured."

"Or you're just old."

"Watch it kid. I can still kick your ass."

* * *

Oliver and Slade had hauled Ivo back to the fuselage. They were aware of the fact that some of the prisoners could have survived, but they were willing to bet that even if the prisoners weren't injured and the two of they were, that the captives wouldn't be able to defeat them.

Ivo was slumped against the wall, head limp on his shoulder. The other two men took the time to bandage themselves. Slade diagnosed Oliver with three cracked ribs, a head injury, thankfully it wasn't a concussion, a dislocated shoulder and some lacerations.  Most of the lacerations had been stitched up, shoulder relocated, and his chest bandaged. With that out the way, Oliver self diagnosed Slade with two cracked ribs, a sprained wrist, several lacerations, and also a not-quite concussion.

The two killers were just glad the injuries weren't any worse. The last thing they needed were broken legs.

"I just hope there isn't any internal bleeding." Oliver stated, almost to himself. 

"Is any blood dribbling down your chin?" Slade asked, gingerly sitting on a crate with a hand pressed to his ribs.

"No. You're clear too, by the way." Oliver said touching his chin to humor the man. Slade just huffed, rolling his eyes and looking away in what could only be called fondness.

Both of their heads snapped towards Ivo when they heard him emit a groan. He jumped back to conscious life with a pain filled groaned. 

"It didn't kill us?" The Doctor bit out. 

"Its seems not." Slade said, now grabbing his katana and stalking up to the man who caused their pain with the weapon pointing at him. 

"Please! My legs are already broken!" Anthony moaned. 

"I don't really care because  _I_ didn't cause it." Slade snarled, blade tip now pressing against Ivo's neck. 

"We were supposed to die!" Ivo called out.

"That doesn't justify  _anything_." Slade growled, tone dangerous, low.

Oliver grabbed a combat knife off a military crate. "Remember me?" Oliver snarked, crouching in front of him. "I happen to be rather good at torture. Oh, and you want to know why you couldn't find anything on me? You've heard of Ra's Al Ghul? Yeah, well I happen to be his son, heir to the demon."

Ivo groaned in despair. Slowly, Oliver sliced into his index finger just above the knuckle. Anthony cried out in pain looking in terror at his finger - which was now in Oliver's hand. Oliver repeated the action with all his other fingers, leaving his thumb before moving to the next hand. 

When he was finished, the demon-to- be stood up and admired his handiwork. Bending, the fingers he was holding in a sort of wave before slamming them down of a crate. 

"That should be good bait for the traps."


	20. Just kill him kid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I understand it's been a while. But I'm hoping you'll understand school started like the day after I posted the last chapter. So sorry, but now that schools started, I actually have a social life! (gasp in surprise) Anyways, here's a chapter.

"Turns out, wild boar actually like the taste of you." Oliver said in mock wonder, squatting down in front of Ivo. He groaned in what must have been a mix of disgust and anguish. The man's left eye was a third of the way open, swollen and bruised yellow. 

"Yeah, and thank you so much for helping me carry that 300 pound pig two miles through the jungle." Slade said sarcastically, stumbling into the plane, and throwing down the boar.

"Your welcome!" Oliver replied cheerily back. He studied Ivo for a few more moments when he was called.

"Kid!"

Oliver stood gracefully, and made his way out the wreckage to where Slade was standing.  "When are you gonna kill him?"

"Eh, I kind of like him."

"Kid. He's been in there with us for like a week. End it."

"Slade!" Oliver fake gasped. "Are you feeling sympathetic!?" 

"No, I'm not. That bastard doesn't deserve sympathy. Its a bit creepy having him stare at me while I'm sleeping."

"Its iffy. He drifts in and out."

"Either way, it's time to kill him."

"Yeah, alight." With that, Oliver ended the conversation by walking across the field to reach the plane, Slade following. Oliver grabbed a hand gun, made sure it was loaded, and without hesitation, pulled the trigger. The echo sounded off through the woods. The heir put the gun on the crate and turned half his body to Slade.

"Should I go dump him in the woods?"   

"Nah, the body shouldn't start smelling yet. Just put him outside and help me skin the boar."

Oliver nodded in acknowledgement, bending over to hoist Ivo's body onto his shoulder. He took a second and adjusted to the weight before heaving him outside. Glancing out towards the setting sun, Oliver couldn't help but hope the rest of their stay on the island would be this way.

"We can still use his body one more time to see if we can snag another animal. Dry the meat so it won't go bad since this will last us awhile." Slade informed him.

"Yeah."

* * *

The next morning, they woke up at sunrise and took Ivo's body out with them. They were about 1/3 a mile from their destination when Slade stopped, throwing Ivo's body to the ground.

"Run!" He shouted.

Oliver must have heard the rustling that could only belong to a human they couldn't see. He started sprinting from in front of Slade, and Slade bolted after him. They were running for less then five minutes, when a tranquilizer dart reached Oliver's neck. He dropped to his knees, fingering it.

"Kid.." Slade ground out before he too was loosing consciousness.


	21. That one where Slade's the protective older brother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I haven't updated in awhile. But guess what! I- wait. No. Okay, so yeah I have no excuse for not updating either. Oops...

Slade groaned as he came back into full awareness. He was on all fours now, clutching his head with one hand. Glancing up, Slade could see Oliver sprawled out on his back. It kicked his brain into gear. The kid wasn't  responding. He could have been dead, or seriously injured.

"Kid. Hey, wake up. C'mon." Slade muttered, kneeling by Oliver's shoulder. He continuously slapped his cheek in a sort of light manner. Slade couldn't see any blood, no injuries. He didn't have a fever, and his breathing was fine. Slade knew Oliver was dosed at the same time as him. So shouldn't he had woken up at the same time?

The sudden though made Slade realize he was in a foreign place. It was then that the gray doors at the end of the short, dim hallway opened. A stern, dark colored woman wearing a gray business suit skirt and blouse walked in. She had a small smirk on her lips and her hands were clasped behind her back. 

"Who the hell are you?" Slade growled. He had moved to his feet and scrambled in front of his partners unconscious form, just in case the kid needed his protection.

"I am Amanda Waller, leader of ARGUS, Mr. Wilson." She said, that smirk never leaving.

"What do you want with us?" Slade asked, shifting on his feet. He was stripped of his weapons and armor. The ex mercenary felt exposed.

"Ah, well that's quite simple. I need your cooperation."

"You didn't just stumble upon us on that island. How'd you even know we were there?" Slade asked, suspicious.

"Hmm. Well ARGUS isn't your commonly called upon organization." Waller replied. "Oh and Mr. Queen is fine. He was given another dosage since he woke too early."

Slade was in the middle of nodding when something struck him. "Mr. Queen?" He questioned, bewildered.

"Your friend. Surly you know his name?" Waller said now.

"I know his name girly." Slade ground out. "Its Oliver Al Ghoul."

A few emotions passed through the woman eyes. Slade caught surprise, shock and then realization.

"It seems Oliver didn't know something of himself then. Robert Queen, of Starling City. Ever heard of him?" Waller asked.

"I have."

"Twenty three years ago, the Queen family lost there first born. A baby boy, named Oliver. Four months old, snatched right out of his crib."

"The name's the same. How are you positive?" Slade inquired. Again, he shifted his stance, guarding Oliver's face from Waller's view.

"Blood tests don't exactly lie, Mr. Wilson. Now, as I'm sure you concluded, the League of Assassins took your friend and raised him. I can't imagine why they'd keep him. A billionaire's son..." The way Waller spoke made him uneasy. Like she knew something. Could see the future.

"How close?" Slade said.

"Excuse me?"

"The blood percentage. How closely did the percentages match?"

"99 % Mr. Wilson. Now, I'll leave you and Mr. Queen alone. Whether you tell him of this newly found knowledge is your choice. However, I'd say its in your best interest to do so." The woman stalked out the room, doors slamming behind her.

A heavy feeling settled on Slade as he spun around to face Oliver. He heard the Kid stirring of course, he just didn't turn around with that woman still in their presence. Obviously, Slade needed to tell Oliver. It wasn't the right thing to keep from him. The contract killer just didn't know how he'd take it.

"Hey kid." Slade muttered, once again kneeling by Oliver's head. "Yeah, yeah. The head hurts, I know. Lets go. Open your eyes up."

"Slade?" Oliver groaned, hand shielding his eyes against the rooms dim lighting. 

"That's my name kid. Lets go." He gripped the kids hand and hauled him upwards, setting him down on a cot.

About ten minutes later, Oliver was back to his normal self ( If he could be normal). Slade began explaining the story with Amanda Waller. When the subject got to Ollie being a Queen, Slade did something rare and edged around the subject, breaking it to him gently. Oliver took the news about as expected. He didn't say anything. Just sort of stared at the floor with a passive face.

"I killed him." Oliver finally said. "I killed my father."

"Kid, look at me." Slade consoled. "Robert Queen was your birth father, yes. But you found a home in the league. Ra's Al Ghoul is your father. And Nyssa. Your sister."

"You're right. I guess... I just expected my father would tell me of this." Oliver admitted.

"Maybe he was just waiting for the right time."

"Yeah, maybe... So Amanda Waller. She said she wanted our cooperation?" 

 

 


	22. Adjusting to regular human life and being Waller's dolls

Oliver and Slade agreed to Amanda Waller's proposition. It wasn't like they hadn't killed for others before. Waller never shared exactly what biddings they were doing for her, which bothered the two men greatly. Already, only a week or so after they were taken by her, Waller had Oliver and Slade torturing and killing random men and women. Well, to them they were random. Amanda seemed to act like she knew exactly who they were, better then they knew themselves.

No one ever gave Oliver and Slade information, usually just claimed they knew nothing and begged to be let go; they had families to care for. Oliver had actually wondered at one point if the citizens did in fact know nothing. No matter what torture method the duo used, not one person spoke of anything that they needed. Either they were very loyal or really didn't know anything. Oliver was beginning to lean towards the second choice; he had even pulled out an old Indian tribe method, skinning men alive easily, quickly, before they could bleed out and die.

Today however, Waller hadn't called Slade and Oliver in. The day was being spent in their dull apartment. The walls were a creamy beige, its living room and kitchen connected and a doorway off of the living room led to a bedroom. The kitchen was simple. A gray granite table and counter, an older modeled fridge and a microwave. The living room, had a small couch, a coffee table, and a rug that didn't extend much after it breached from under the couch. With no personal belongings, the items already there made the place look large and roomy.

Oliver was reading a book in Arabic on the couch, which he declared as his bed after giving Slade the bedroom. When Slade look over at him from where he stood cleaning guns at the counter, Oliver was staring at the wall. 

"Somethings in here." Oliver blankly, softly, almost dismissively before he could ask what was wrong.

His hand immediately twitched for his gun, eyeing the room.

"Not a human." Oliver said, exasperation leaking into his words. Slade walked over to stand beside him, looking at the wall Oliver was staring at so intently.

"What  _is_ that?!" Oliver expressed. Slade followed his line of sight and spotted the cause of all the confusion. A dragonfly. Slade laughed then, because the kid was acting like he'd never seen one .

"You seriously don't know what that is?" Slade asked, gesturing to the insect as it bounced off the walls before finally choosing to rest of a lamp shade.

"No."

"Ah, right. You grew up in the league. Do you know what an insect is?"

"Of course I know what an insect is! I was educated."

"Right. Well, did those books have illustrations?" Slade questioned, a skeptical note lacing his words.

"No, most of the book don't." Oliver answered, still staring at the little blue winged creature."

" _That_ is a dragonfly. You read about that, didn't you?"

"Yes. I thought they'd be...uglier."

Slade chuckled, slapping Oliver on the shoulder. "Nice choice of words kid." And then he went back to cleaning his gun. 

* * *

"What are you reading anyway, kid?" Slade asked, curiosity finally getting the best of him. He put down the last of the guns he had to clean and leaning forward of the gray counter. Oliver flipped over the book looking at the white cover. 

"Its called 'Survive If You Can'. Its about a man getting stranded on a crazy island. Ironic, isn't it?" Oliver answered, turning the book back around. He was about 3/4 of the way through it. 

Slade huffed." Yeah, ironic." He grumbled. "Alright kid. I'm going to go pick up something to eat. You want anything?" 

"Oh, yeah, sure." Oliver replied. His voice showed he wasn't really listening, absorbed in the book. Slade rolled his eyes, not bothering to ask what he wanted. The kid would eat whatever he brought home. That's how it worked on the island. 

*****

By the time Slade arrived back at the apartment, Oliver done with his book. In fact he was in a hand stand walking back and froth in the area behind the couch, gentle sunlight shining on him. The white shirt falling down and revealing some of his toned stomach.

Slade's eyebrows furrowed. "Kid. What the hell are you doing?"

Oliver, spun around in a circle to face the other man shrugging. He lowered his feet to the floor gentling, standing up like a normal human. "I don't know. I was bored."

"Seriously, kid?" 

"Yeah. I used to do it all the time. It scared people."

When they sat a the table, Slade unpacked and placed the food item in front of Oliver. He then sat at his own place. The former mercenary was about to take a bite out his meal when he noticed Oliver. He was sitting in his seat, but he wasn't eating. Instead, he was staring with a confused look, head tilted to the side.

"Are you okay?" Slade asked. 

"No. I'm dying tragically." Oliver answered. "What is this?" He poked his dinner. Slade stared silently at him for a moment and then he laughed, full out, and loudly. 

"Jesus kid. Its called a hanbao. Translating to English as Hamburger. Did you really not eat these at the league? Or at least when you were on a mission?"

"Everything eaten at the league is fresh. Cooked, grown, or killed by our members. Its homemade and pure." Oliver answered.

"I am 99.436785 % sure you've eaten everything that's on there. Just try it." Slade felt weird. In the real human world, Oliver didn't know many normal things. On the island, the kid knew exactly what to do and what he was talking about. The kid seemed like... well... a kid.

Oliver bit into it, even if he seemed a little cautious. His eyes widened in perhaps surprised delight. "This is good." Oliver mumbled. Slade smirked at him.

They didn't talk about Oliver being adopted. For the most part, they ignored that they were ever even told it.

* * *

"Waller needs us!" Oliver shouted, putting down a phone. Slade walked in from the bed room making a beeline for the counter. "Needs, or wants." He grumbled. Oliver rolled his eyes, stuffing his bow into a black duffel bag and trading out of his white one for a long sleeved black one. 

By the time he turned back to Slade, the man had all his guns, armor, and katanas packed into his own black duffel.

***

"What is it this time Waller? You need us to pointlessly kill another man?" Slade growled, leaning against the wall. Oliver glared at him , turning his head to look over his shoulder. They met up with the woman in an abandoned warehouse. 

"No, actually." She answered. "The reason you've been 'pointlessly killing men' as you put it Mr. Wilson, wasn't  _pointless_ at all. They were brainwashed. They didn't remember what they did."

"What did they do exactly?" Oliver asked, arms folded. 

"Stole items for a bio weapon. Alpha and omega." Waller announced, hands folded neatly in front of her. 

"A-a  _bio weapon_? Okay.. well that's not good." Oliver down graded. Slade huffed a laugh from his leaning post.

"No, Mr. Queen" -Oliver's clenched jaw, repressed flinch, nearly made Slade launch himself at the woman to shut her up- "It isn't. What you're doing tonight will hopefully prevent that from happening."

"What are we doing,  _Amanda?"_ Slade spit. Oliver still didn't know what Slade's problem with the woman was. Yeah, she could be a bitch and  _yeah_ Oliver didn't really like her either, but he took it to another level.

"You'll be retrieving the Alpha and Omega from where its being held."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My translations are from the internet. Sorry if there are any mistakes.


	23. Mission Alpha Omega

Oliver gripped the handle bar tightly, readying himself to push off the building at Slade's signal. When he looked back at the other man, Oliver could see Slade glaring at him with anger, disappointment, and concern. He held his gaze for a minute before turning back around. Oliver knew that Slade wasn't approving of their roles in this mission.

_"I'll take the window, you can snipe." Oliver had said._

_"Kid, let me take the window." Slade suggested._

_"Why? You're a better sniper than I am."_

_"I... I don't want you getting hurt. You'll be going directly into the bullet fire without any backup." Slade confessed gruffly._

_Oliver paused in what he was doing. It was strange to see Slade like this. Concerned, worried. After all, when he and Oliver first met, Slade had tried to kill him. Oliver returned the favor but... that was all in the past. Now, Slade was more of a big brother/best friend kind of guy.  He couldn't help but think Nyssa would approve in all her big sister overprotectiveness._

_"You'd be doing the same! What makes you think I want you to get hurt?"_

_"Well, I wear armor. Bullet proof armor. You don't."  
_

_The conversation was put to a rest when the duo received a blueprint of  the building side they would be going entering through. The window wasn't large, and with Slade having a larger shoulder width, it would be harder for him to get in quickly. He agreed grudgingly, though Oliver swore he could hear Slade grumbling about sledge hammers and how they could  break concrete._

Oliver felt the bullet whiz past him, so he kicked off the building and held his feet up when he was within a few feet of the wall. The glass creaked, but the pane wasn't coming off. He pushed himself back and tried again, slamming through the window as it broke upon his contact.

Oliver landed in a crouch. He immediately drew an arrow and shot the first two security guards in rapid succession. Rounding the corner, bow raised, he shot another man. He thudded to the ground in seconds. By the time he made it to a larger area with cargo crates and a railing above him, people began to shoot at him. At first, Oliver fired back, killing and injuring a few, but eventually more and more guards were coming to stand on the railing.

Oliver ducked behind a cargo crate and sighed in relief when he saw Slade and the assembled strike team enter. They opened fire and Oliver could hear bodies dropping and shrieks of pain from behind him. However, the bad guys were dropping bodies on their side too. 

The STRIKE team jumped behind crates for cover and Slade hid with Oliver. He was panting slightly as he reloaded his gun. 

"Go kid, I'll cover you." He said.

Oliver didn't answer, just nodded and ran low as he raced across the room. The hallways were a white color, and he killed two more men before he finally reached the lab. Oliver searched quickly, but diligently through the labels and he was just happy he knew how to speak Chinese. Eventually, he stumbled across a glass case, and checking the label, it was Alpha Omega. Or at least it was supposed to be. 

The Bio weapon wasn't there.

* * *

"It wasn't there? Where else would it be?" Amanda Waller questioned, more to herself than Slade and Oliver. 

"It was there," Oliver said. "But someone obviously took it." 

"Exactly, Mr. Queen. The question is who." Waller said smoothly. You couldn't see it, not if you weren't well trained. Slade did see it. Oliver still had a problem with being called 'Mr. Queen'.

"Can you just stop?" Slade snarled. Oliver looked at his partner, eyebrows knit together, confusion clear on his face. Waller gave him an unimpressed look, eyebrows raised. "Stop what, Mr. Wilson?" 

"Calling the kid 'Mr. Queen.' He doesn't like it." He said, crossing his arms. 

"'Mr. Al Ghoul' doesn't exactly role off the tongue." Waller shot back. 

"Stop it!" Oliver shouted. "Both of you! We have more important things to discuss. Now, do you have any idea as to where the Alpha Omega could be?"

* * *

  
"What's your deal with her?" Oliver asked Slade when they were back in their apartment. 

Slade sighed. "Kid, listen-"

"Tell me the truth."

"Alright. You were asleep. Waller summoned us, or at least I thought it was us. When I mentioned getting you, she said just me. I was suspicious, started questioning her. Waller said she just wanted to talk. When I did meet up with her, another man was there as well. He was a general named Matthew Shrieve. They wanted information on you."

"Information?" Oliver questioned, raising an eyebrow quizzically. 

"Mhmm. Shrieve  apparently was 'helping' to take down the bio weapon, but he said he wanted you on a mission for him. Same rules with Waller- he'd take you anywhere you wanted to go after. Shrieve also mentioned that having both of us would be better, but mainly you because no one knows who you are."

"Its not like I want to do that, but what's wrong with it?" Oliver asked. 

"I have a bad feeling about him."

"That doesn't explain the whole deal with Waller."

"After he left, Waller mentioned me tricking you into doing it because according to her, you're a hard headed person who would only do something they didn't have to if someone forced them. I just don't like her. I didn't when she first kidnapped us off of Lian Yu."

Oliver opened his mouth to respond but it was interrupted by screaming and an explosion. Both Slade and Oliver ran to the balcony window only to stare in panic at what they were seeing.

 


	24. When the Monster Shines

The two men shared only a glance before vaulting over the balcony. It wasn't the best idea, in fact there was no thought behind it at all. Just action. So Oliver and Slade ran into the streets flooding with panicked citizens.

Upon arrival, Oliver immediately knew it was the Bio Weapon. Alpha and Omega had been released. But by who? He would have liked to say that at the moment it didn't matter, but it did. It was really the only thing that mattered. However, Slade and him receiving the vaccine for it was right up there with it as things that mattered right now.

The pair would have been vaccinated earlier,but Waller and her ARGUS crew didn't anticipate that the weapon would have been released so early. Oliver glanced around. Off to his side, there was a women with short hair covering her head and running, blindly, by the tell of where her hands were placed. Nearby there was a mother and father running with their daughter. The little girl was screaming, crying, panicked with the suddenly terrorized city.

Everything seemed to slow down as Oliver ran. He could feel the adrenaline rushing through him, filling him, recharging him. It gave Oliver this feeling of eternal stamina. Like he could run for miles and miles, hours and hours, days and days, and he still wouldn't be tired. It felt good.

  
"Slade!" Oliver called raising his voice towards the end of the name, but the voice sound lowered, becoming deeper. Oliver could see Slade follow the direction of his stare which was aimed at a truck. Several Hong Kong persons were crowded around a large white van. A man, or at least the body build and structure suggested the gender was male, in a yellow hazmat suit. Oliver couldn't see his face, but he was quickly able to notice the fact that Hazmat Man was injecting others with something. 

Oliver caught pieces, words and looking at Slade briefly, he knew that Slade also caught the word. The other jumbled, confused words didn't matter. It was just one word that mattered.  _Cure._

These poor, fooled people believed they would be spared. How naïve. No, Oliver knew, Slade knew, this was no cure. It was the Alpha Omega being directly injected. Alpha Omega had three ways of infecting people. Injection, through a human; when their blood has been spilled, and a complicated way through the air. Oliver wasn't really concerned about the air transmission though. The only way that method really affected you is if you were near the sample that was dropped to the floor, or if you happened to be in the area after it occurred. The Bio Weapon could only stay about ten minutes in open air like that before the carbon dioxide and oxygen mixed to much with it and downgraded the Alpha Omega to nothing but a thicker patch of air that most likely would give you a cough.

"Move! Get away! GO!" Oliver and Slade shouted. Some ran from the booming voices and lethal weapons Slade bore. Some glanced at the pair curiously, frightened, anxious. Clearly, the group of  citizens believed the sickness was worse than Oliver and Slade. How wrong they were.

Oliver pushed people, shoved them from the truck and demanded that they run. Unfortunately,(as Oliver was annoyed at the moment) he couldn't resort to anything too violent. If Oliver and Slade weren't protecting the City of Hong Kong, there would be injuries,  a lot of injuries.

Instead, Oliver and Slade cleared the area, and then Slade grabbed a grenade from his task force belt, showing and gesturing it towards the truck. Oliver nodded and the explosive weapon was tossed towards the truck as the small gathering. 

Oliver darted behind a crate and then Slade suddenly popped up near him, looking at Oliver, and then at the truck.

_5_

_4_

_3_

_2_

_1_

The van exploded, bits of metal went flying.  Oliver noticed the right side car door sailing through the air, but there wasn't time to process the matter. The needed to get to ARGUS' Hong Kong headquarters and fast before they were infected by Alpha Omega.

* * *

"Waller!" Called Oliver, walking into the control room. Heads swiveled around to look at the duo, one heavily armed, the other bearing nothing at all.

"I was wondering when you two would show up." Waller mused, but her voice was bland and that knowing smirk she always wore was gone completely. "Morrison will vaccinate you." She nodded her head towards a pretty, but severe looking women with brown hair in a bun. 

Morrison took Oliver's arm immediately after opening a black case that folded in at the middle. She didn't speak, and worked quickly, wiping the crease of his arm with antiseptic before plunging the needle into his skin. 

Oliver rolled his sleeve back down, trying to resist the urge to shake his arm. The limb felt tingly and light. Morrison moved on to Slade, repeating the same actions. When she was finished, he bent his arm and rubbed at the targeted vein. Slade redirected his attention to Oliver then, but kept at the ministrations to his arm. 

Oliver knew what Slade was saying, or well trying to say. It was one of the perks of trying to survive for three years together on a "deserted" island that wasn't really deserted because stupid ass, evil missionaries - not even religious ones!- always somehow showed up there and- 

Okay, back to the topic.

 _"I should say it."_ Slade communicated. 

 _"Don't you dare."_ Oliver threatened. 

_"She didn't even ask if we're allergic to something. We could have keeled over dead and it'd be her fault and then ARGUS would get mad at me because I would kill her when you died-"_

_"How do you know I would die?"_

Slade gave Oliver this look.  _"Seriously kid? We both know a serum isn't taking me out."_

Oliver put his hands out, eyebrows furrowed in a sort of confused outrage. Before he could respond, Waller interrupted.

"If you two are done making lovey eyes at each other," She said, making Oliver splutter. " We need to get back to what's important, not your love life."

Slade was looking at her with a scary angry look. His arms were crossed and Oliver pushed away any offended feeling. He wasn't that bad.

"Do you have any idea as to where you need to go to end this before it gets out of hand?" Waller asked, and Oliver couldn't help but think the situation already was out of hand. He was about to reply, Oliver had no idea where to go next, they didn't have any suspects, but Slade spoke up instead.

"Yes we do."

"Great." Waller grinned crisply, momentarily, and then it was gone. " You should get going then. Oh and Mr. Queen? Please arm yourself."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Oliver asked Slade. A black bow rested in his hand, matching arrows sitting in the quiver on his back.

"To visit Shrieve." Slade replied briskly.

"Shrieve?" Oliver questioned. He almost asked what the man had to do with this, but stopped himself when he realized something. "You think he's behind this."

"I do. This is what my bad feeling for him was." Slade gestured around to the destruction around them. The area they were in was abandoned now, and even though he had just been vaccinated, Oliver felt strange standing in an area where he would have caught the virus.

"I trust you. Do you know where he is?" 

"Yes."

"How?" Oliver asked. 

"Its where I met up with him and Waller. Higher security count, a desk, folders, a safe. I think its his office."

Oliver only nodded.

***

"Two armed men are on the other side of this corner." Slade whispered. He then walked around the corner. Oliver heard one of the security guards say "Sir, you can't be here. Its a private area." And then Slade's reply of "Oh my bad." 

 Oliver came around the corner then, shooting them both in the chest. He and Slade continued on their way to Shrieve's 'office'.

"Shrieve!" Slade shouted when they saw him. The man looked up from a file, an amber liquid in a whiskey glass on his desk. 

"Mr. Wilson." He announced. "And you brought your little friend. Have we come to an agreement then?" 

"Hell no." Slade snarled, advancing on him. "Now where the hell's the cure?"

When Shrieve didn't reply, Slade growled, jerking him out of his chair by his General uniform.

"Where. Is. The. Cure?" Slade asked dangerously. Oliver kept an arrow trained at Shrieve, but he lowered his weapon since Slade was in front of the corrupted man. 

"That- that safe." The General stuttered. 

Oliver walked over to it, hand ghosting above the keypad. "Password?" He said to Slade.

"You heard him. What's the password?" Slade inquired, shoving the man back to his seat. 

"472349." 

"Got it." Oliver said, pulling out a black case. "How do you open it?" He demanded.

" Oh that's  complicated. You might want to right this down. Opening the case and administering it, well that a long, busy list..."

"Doesn't matter." Slade decided. "Because you're coming with us."

Shrieve didn't fight and Oliver didn't know if he should be relieved or suspicious of that behavior. Slade rummaged the General's desk and pulled out some zip ties. He pulled Shrieve up and then zipped cuffed his hands behind his back. "Move."

* * *

They were outside when Slade began looking around and Oliver didn't know what he was looking for. When he began directing Shrieve towards an abandoned and a little trashed pharmacy store, Oliver figured out he was just looking for a closed off space to be.

Slade pushed Shrieve down to the floor and Oliver stood before the man. "Start telling me directions to open this."

Shrieve started laughing and Slade narrowed his eyes. "What's funny?"

"There's not a cure in there!" He continued to laugh.  Oliver clenched his hand, containing his anger, but Slade kicked Shrieve in the chest, pushing him across the floor. The man began coughing and from the position that the General's face was at, Oliver couldn't tell if he was coughing up blood.

"Wait here kid." Slade instructed. "I need to talk with Waller."

* * *

Slade walked back to the pharmacy, pausing at the doorway. Shrieve wasn't in the position he was in when Slade left. In fact, he was across the room. Oliver was sitting on a crate, shoulders hunched, knees spread, hands dangling between them.

"Kid?" Slade said cautiously. Oliver half turned, and Slade could now see that it was a hammer in his hands, both bloody. His shirt was black, so no crimson stains were visible, but Slade could tell blood patterned the shirt too.

"Hey Slade." Oliver said somberly.

Slade walked to stand in front of Oliver. Shrieve was lying on the floor, motionless. Arrows were sticking out of him. Bruises and lacerations blossoming across his skin. Limbs were bent at odd angles and some even looked flat. 

Slade knelt on one knee and felt for a pulse, it was there, but faint. "He's alive, but just bearly. Just passed out from the pain." Slade stood, shoving his katana through Shrieve's heart, effectively ending his life.

"Kid... He did less to you then Ivo did and you gave him worse."

"Shrieve didn't hurt me, unlike Ivo, he hurt Hong Kong ands its  people. Besides, only half of it was revenge."

"And the other half?" Slade asked, almost not wanting an answer. 

"Practice."

They sat in silence for a bit, and the air was a little tense. Slade couldn't stop thinking about how Oliver said torturing a man was practice. He decided to diffuse the tension with some of his wonderful, random words.

"We need to cut your hair."


	25. Why are we always double crossed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, i haven't updated in so long. I just haven't been in the typing mood :/

Oliver didn't cut his hair. In fact, he straight up refused. Slade, of course, had questioned him on it. The ASIS agent had multiple assumptions of what his problem could be.

Blades near his face could trigger PTSD, panic attacks and such. Maybe Oliver thought he would cut him? Slade voiced this opinion, as it seemed less accusing than the first thought.

Oliver had simply replied with a shake of the head and Slade was starting to retreat back to his first assumption, but the real reason wasn't anything he had thought of, though he'd never admit it.

Oliver informed him that life with the league was very ordered, even down to how your hair was styled. He always had to have a close, military like, haircut. He liked it long like this. It was different.

Oliver and Slade headed to a bar that was on the small side, dimly lit. Stools were placed at the actual bar area, but booths were also available for seating. Both male and female lounged around in the bar, and they eyed the pair as they entered.

Sitting down at a stool, Slade ordered vodka, while Oliver decided on Sunset Rum. It was an amber liquid, but edged darker. 

"That was eventful." Slade commented, referring to everything that happened in the last few hours. 

"Yep," Oliver replied, drawing out the word.

"Where are you heading after this?" His long time partner asked. 

"Back to the league." Oliver said, swallowing down his drink when it was handed to him. The drink was tasted nearly like nothing, but it was strong. Tilting the glass to get a look at the small amount that remained that would be nearly impossible to get out without looking like an idiot, Oliver decided he would only have one glass. Man, that stuff was good for getting someone drunk.

"Mmm. I'm not sure where I'm headed after this. Does the league have any form of technological communication, or is that too new?" Slade asked.

"We have encrypted codes." Oliver amusedly answered, spinning on his stool slightly to look at the other man.

"Mmm," Slade hummed behind his shot of vodka. "Can I read any of these encryptions?"  

Oliver tapped his fingers on the glossy wooden bar. "That depends. Can you read ancient Greek, Cryillic, Devanagari, or Arabic?" 

"I can read Cryillic and Devanagari." 

"Great. We can be pen pals."

"I want to meet this Nyssa." Slade announced suddenly.

Oliver turned to him. "Oh no. No, no, no. That's not happening. You two are not meeting one another."

"Why not?" Slade asked, smirking because Oliver seemed panicked about it.

"You two devils will team up on me about how I did this that was dangerous and stupid, but then this was just plain stupid and a million other combinations revolving around the subject."

Slade started laughing, but it was cut off when he sneered and rolled his eyes.Oliver was about to ask what was wrong, but then Ollie realized when Amanda Waller slid into the seat to the right of Oliver. She placed an order for three drinks.

Oliver knew of Slade's clear dislike for the women that he never bothered hiding. Thinking of why he did not like her only brought flashed memories of blood, a hammer, various other tools, and a limp body. The young assassin blocked out the memories.

"Mr. Queen," She nodded. "Mr. Wilson." She said, repeating the action. 

"How'd you find us?" Oliver asked, arms crossed.

"The worlds too small for someone like Oliver Queen to disappear." Waller said. "Truth be told, I expected to find you in Nanda Parbat."

"I'm not ready to be near my family." Oliver said, noticing how she wasn't speaking of Slade, though he could feel Slade's eyes glaring holes into the women. He took a sip of the newly amber liquid drink placed before him and Slade did the same. A free drink, is a free drink after all.

"Because of what you did to Shrieve? I read his autotopsy report. I knew you had a compacity for the unfathomable," Amanda continued, picking up her drink. "But I  _actually_  underestimated you." She took a sip now.

"What do you want, Amanda?" Oliver said in lower tones.

"To help you." She replied

Oliver laughed quietly, taking another sip of the whiskey.

"You haven't returned home because you feel you're a monster, and you're trying to deny it."

"That's where you're wrong." Oliver said, leaning back in his chair. "The  _League of Assassins_ isn't exactly a place I'd stick out in if I thought I was a monster."

Waller continued as if she were never interrupted. "Channeling your  _killer instinct_ into something productive, but you can't change who you are in your bones."

Despite the fact that Oliver had refused to look at the women, even though she had been looking at him, he did now.

"I don't need a therapist. Anyone who lives at the league becomes some sort of monster. You don't escape there without some bad memories."

"Exactly, Mr. Queen. Stop trying to run from your inner darkness. Embrace it." Waller leaned back now. "Let it run its course."

"I've embraced the darkness quite some time ago Amanda." Oliver told her. It was the truth. After doing the things he has done, experiencing the things he has, Oliver's thoughts weren't usually on the happy side of things.

"You've been pushing it back. With Mr. Wilson," Waller gestured at Slade. "By your side, you've allowed yourself to tone it down. Often times, the only way _out_ is  _through_." Amanda sighed, gulping down the last of her alcoholic drink. The words didn't exactly fit with her sentence and out the corner of his eye, Oliver saw Slade tense. He became a bit wary of her.

Oliver turned fully towards her. "Through what?" Then, he shut his eyes, forcing out a breath through closed lips. Looking around, things were out of focus. Then, the bars' guests were suddenly standing up and Slade must have been suffering the same effects, and realizing what Oliver realized too.

"Kid," He said, sounding strained, like he was trying to fight off the newly blurry world.

Oliver glanced back to the bar, to his empty glass. He picked it up before putting it back down, eyes skimming across a smirking Amanda Waller. 

"ARGUS agents." Was all he said. 

Oliver stumbled, half catching himself on and half hitting a table as more people surrounded him. Oliver saw Slade punch someone, and just as he was trying to come to Oliver's aid, the man started feeling the drugs effects too.

"When you wake up," Waller said, voice sounding deep and wavy to Oliver. "Just remember that I'm trying to help you." 

And then, he saw nothing.

 

 

 

 


	26. A lack of seriousness and a load of strange bromance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like the title says, there is a lack of 'siriusness' in this chapter. Alright, that was Harry Potter. I'm sorry. Comment if you love the books and/or movies though!  
> Again, I apologize for that 'riddikulus-ly' bad joke, but if you don't like Harry Potter then something is 'ron' with you!  
> Alright, Alright, I'm done! I'll stop. I'm 'stupified'!  
> This isn't related to Arrow at all but as Ollie once said- "There were movies?"  
> I don't even know why I try. Go, just get on with the story...

The ground was hard, cold, and shaking. Rumbling with an intensity that boomed in Oliver's ear. He didn't know where it was coming from, only that he wanted to get as far away from it as possible. Oliver could tell he was laying on his back and without much thought, he quickly opened his eyes and rolled his upper half off the ground.

He saw two men. One was smiling, wearing a business suit, and the other was bald and wore a gray airman like jumpsuit. It didn't take long for Oliver to figure out he was in a small cargo plane and was immediately suspicious of the two men. Anyone Waller had to do with wasn't anyone he cared to speak with. Ollie glanced briefly behind him, eyes finding Slade, still asleep, but stirring.

"Nice nap?" Shouted the business suit man.

"I wasn't- napping." Oliver responded sharply, blinking furiously and struggling to get up. "I was drugged. Where's Waller?"

"Back in Co city, sleeping off the scotch." The man said, a playful note in his tone.

"Well wake her up," Oliver commanded grumpily, now sitting up. " I want to know what I'm doing here."

"Director Waller, " He responded, taking a few steps forward. " Has asked me to thank you for agreeing to take on this mission." 

The bald man threw down a parachute and a backpack in front of Oliver. He looked at it. 

"I didn't agree, " He retaliated, standing up. " To take on a-" Suddenly business suit man had a gun pointed at him.

"Sorry," He said, serious now. " But we're on a bit of a clock here." 

Again, Oliver glanced behind him to see Slade, now awake and taking in the duo's current predicament.

"Now you're getting off this plane, you either do that with a chute on your back or a bullet in your head. Your call." He continued, then nodded towards his silent partner. The other man also pulled out a gun, retrieving a parachute from near his feet and started towards Slade. He threw the chute at the standing man, and instinctively, Slade caught it.

Then, the hatch was lowered until Slade was pressured out. As he fell the ex mercenary yelled "IS THAT-" But it was lost in the screams of wind.

Oliver picked up the parachute, because his conversation with business suit was still going on during Slade's scenario. 

"Why is Waller doing this?" Oliver asked, voice gruff, after pulling on the chute and retrieving the backpack.

"I guess she likes ya, I didn't think she could like anyone." The man stated, gun still pointed at Oliver as he stepped forward. 

"Plus," Business suit continued, and Oliver looked behind him as he was being moved backwards each time the other stepped forward. " You know the terrain."

"What Terrain?" Ollie asked, a confused anger settling over him.

"Your job is to infiltrate the area, access the threat and report back.You have AES encrypted communication gear in your pack.

He was screaming now, since they were so close to the howling wind. " Now according to our intel, your target may be radar capable, so you'll have to halo in. So when you think you're about to splat, only then do you pull the shoot."

Oliver's mouth was slightly opened. He was used to being given complicated orders, but this was different. Looking behind him once again, Oliver peered through the clouds.He saw something that brought him one good thing and the rest that had brought him hell. 

He wasn't facing the other men when he yelled, "Wait is that-" But Oliver never got to finish his sentence because the bald headed guy kicked him in the face. It wasn't too hard, but surprised him and obviously was hard enough to knock him out the plane.

Oliver didn't scream as he plummeted and any fatigue left from the drug was gone and replaced by adrenaline.

***

"Who are you?" Demanded a very deep voice from behind him. Oliver was kneeling, as for the second time in the last ten minutes, a gun was held to his head. Only this wasn't a hand gun, it was a military gun.

Ollie didn't reply and the stranger kicked him on back,between the shoulder blades, causing him to fall forward, catching himself on bent arms. 

"Answer me!" The man tried again.

Oliver grit his teeth, taming the overwhelming need to take action. A murderous look found and rested on his face. He forced himself back to a kneeling position instead, once again, hands going up in surrender.

"All right." Oliver answered, sounding out of breath. The next few seconds however, weren't filled with an explanation, but instead, a take down. Oliver grabbed the gun nozzle, pushing it from him and gave a swift, but powerful hit to the back of the strange soldier dressed mans knee. He grunted in pain, body moving in the direction the hit pushed him to.

From there, Ollie placed a hand above the mans hip and threw him forwards. However, the soldier got up quickly and lashed out with a knife, but Oliver blocked the attack, turned the blade around and into his own hand before stabbing to other in the lower chest. Blood dribbled down his uniform and Ollie let the body fall to the ground.

 Lifting the man, arms under the others armpits, Oliver dragged him a few feet towards his pack. Grabbing said bag, Oliver pulled out the AES encryption device. He pulled out the small keyboard after opening up the army green box and deftly typed "On the ground"

He glanced back at the dead soldier behind him as he waited for a reply. "Prepare for infiltration" was all it said.

Once again, Oliver was confused. How did they expect him to fulfill this mission if he didn't know any details. "What!?" He muttered sharply to himself. 

"Infiltrate what?" He quickly typed back. 

Oliver grew frustrated when the assholes who tossed him here (literally) only replied with " See for yourself. Make them trust you."

"Come on." He muttered in annoyance to himself.

Shutting the AES communicator, Oliver slipped it back into his pack. 

***

Oliver jogged down a tiny slope, camouflaged pack on his back. He ran a short distance through ferns now until at last, Oliver paused and unclipped the backpack from his chest, slipping it from his shoulders. Now, that he had no man to fight, no asses to communicate with, Oliver's mind wandered to Slade. They were separated, (which not to be a drama king, but that hasn't happened in like three years) so Slade may already be at the camp, the soldiers trusting him. Or maybe he was strung up, bleeding and injured. Or maybe Slade killed everyone there and there was no longer a mission.

 He crouched in the dirt, retrieving binoculars from the pack, and forced Slade out of his mind. Oliver was honestly surprised by what he saw. A little cluster of wooden, hand made buildings, and to the right, a patch of tall purple and white flowers. Lowering the binoculars, he squinted his eyes, trying to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

 What was this; a secret society? No, this must be his mission. That soldier came from here. 

Placing the device back to his eyes, Oliver saw a closer view of a woman being roughly jerked back by the hair by a soldier. She was working in that patch of flowers along with others, only Oliver was pretty sure it wasn't just a flower. Probably a drug of some kind.

He shook his head to the side. As far as he knew, that was an innocent woman. Oliver knew first hand how tough women were, having Nyssa as a big sister taught him that much, but women  being roughly treated like that killed him.

***

Oliver trudged back up to the dead solider, once again slipping the pack from his shoulders.  He threw it into a taller area of grass and proceeded to strip off his light hoodie, tossing it with the pack. Ripping his shirt in several places, Oliver kneeled down, rubbing dirt on his arms and face. 

Once again, he looked at the dead man, sighing in annoyance as he then heaved him up by his protective gear. An area he knew of that was always a pain in the ass would finally come in handy.

***

The dead man was over Oliver's shoulder, but when he reached his destination, Oliver sat him on a fallen over tree, shoved him to a lying down position, and then forced the dead man over. 

Making a small grunt, Oliver ran quickly from the tree, arms covering his head. Just as the area exploded upon the soldiers contact, Oliver was a safe distance away in a crouched down position. He reeled back, seeing smoke and dust flying in the air.

***

That's where the soldiers found him, in that crouched position. 

"You! Hey! Stand Down!" He shouted, and Oliver almost rolled his eyes, almost said he already stood down because he was crouching, wasn't he? In no time at all, Oliver was surrounded by two men.

"I guess you know what happened to Kenny." Said an angry sounding black man, gun pointed at Oliver. 

' _This happens too much.'_ Oliver thought.

"Don't move! Don't move!" Oliver warned cautiously, holding up a hand in a 'stop' kind of way.

"Just shut up." Said a bearded white man, though his voice lacked confidence. 

"Its a minefield." Oliver continued, gesturing a hand out. "All right? That's what killed your friend. 

"And who the hell are you?" Asked the same bearded man.

"My name is Oliver Queen." Oliver admitted gesturing to himself. "Three years ago, the yacht that I was on went down in a storm." Oliver almost got use to it, the name Queen. He figured he couldn't say his name was Oliver Al Ghoul and 'Queen' was the first thing to slip out.

"And I washed up here. I survived."

"Lets take him to Reiter."-the black man turned his head to his partner-"He'll know what to do with him." Suggested the white man. 

* * *

 

As he was being walked into the camp, Oliver looked around hoping to see Slade. 

"Where's this place?" He finally asked.

"Over there." The bearded man said instead.

Ollie walked through a doorway to see another black man sitting at a desk. He assumed this was Reiter. 

"Baron, this guy says he's Oliver Queen." The white guy said. 

Reiter leaned back. "I see one problem with that." He said. "Oliver Queen is supposed to be being held in captivity or dead on the other side of the world."

He gestured a hand for Oliver to sit and he complied. “He's a minor celebrity. Made the front page and the news for years after he went missing. Every now and then, at a Queen event, he still does, and every time a child goes missing or a male winds up dead-" Reiter snapped. "Just like that, he's the hot topic."

"So that bargains the question of what you're doing out here in the middle of the Northern China sea on the island of Lian Yu."

"My- my captors," Oliver started. " They we’re transferring me to somewhere. The yacht we were one got caught in a storm. The ship capsized. I was the only survivor." The only untruthful thing about that statement is that there were no captors and he wasn’t the only survivor. "Thank you for rescuing me." Oliver finished, trying to play the innocent kid part. Again, Oliver waiting, believing that they might next ask how he knew his name, but then again the strangers probably chalked it up to his 'captors' telling him.

Reiter chuckled lightly. "I'm sorry, but we're not rescuing you. First thing you do once you get home is tell people what it is we're doing here."

Oliver started to speak but stopped, then continued. "I don't know what you're doing here."

"Be that as it may, I can’t send you home. Not right now." Reiter's intense stare met Oliver's eys directly. "Good news, though, I have no reason to kill you." He stood, walking out from behind his desk.

"So what are you going to do to me?" Oliver asked, glancing at Reiter.

"Good question. " He said, which summed up everything perfectly. (That is sarcasm) "You survived three years here, about two decades as a prisoner. All alone. That requires fortitude, intelligence- qualities that are of use to me. As it happens, one of my men stepped on a landmine. How would you like his job?” Reiter held out a perfectly straight hand.

Oliver glanced at it, then back at the man.

***

Oliver was standing, keeping watch. His hair was cut military style and he wore the camouflage outfit.

"Oliver?" Questioned a familiar voice. He turned to see Slade, hair same as always, but wearing the same outfit as him.

"Slade." He said, a little surprised, but relieved.

"You two know each other?" Asked a solider standing watch near Oliver. 

"We survived this island for three years together, of course we know one another." Slade said. Oliver had no doubt that Slade figured out that this was their mission. He also figured that the man told of his military background, and how he ended up here. The camps soldiers were more likely to trust him and roping Oliver in to be really close to him, Slade figured it would help Oliver gain their trust a bit more.

The soldier didn't reply, just looked between the two that now stood quite close together, silently discussing happenings of the day.

* * *

 

"Would you stop staring at me?" Oliver asked, exasperated.

"I can't. Its mesmerizing to see you with short hair. " Slade told him, not letting up.

"Its weird!" Oliver said.

Slade found Oliver's eyes and deadpanned him. "Seriously kid?  _This_ is weird to you? Everything we've ever done, and  _this_ particular event is what weirds you out?"

Oliver shrugged and Slade sighed.

 

* * *

"Do ya think the new recruits are dating or something?" Asked the guy who earlier witnessed the staring thing. 

Conklin sputtered, almost spitting out his alcoholic beverage. "What?" He asked. Some of the mercenaries were gathered in a tent, enjoying a late night.

"That Wilson and Queen. Do ya thi-" The soldier began again.

"I heard what you said!" Conklin said, shutting him up. "No, you idiot! They aren't dating. Why the hell would you think that?"

"They just seemed really close." The guy replied. 

"Of course they're close, "Conklin scolded, " They were stranded together for years."

Silence passed on before he finally chuckled- "Better not let them hear that. Especially the Aussie. Looks like he has a mean swing." 

* * *

"Rise and shine kid!" Slade grinned, pulling a fresh shirt over his head. Oliver squinted at him from his cot, which was about a foot off the ground in their shared hut.

"I wish I could sleep in the Fuselages cots, these aren't comfortable." He groaned. 

"Already missing home, kid?" The older man teased. 

"Technically, its been like over a month or so since we were last there." Oliver said, justifying himself.

"Yeah," Slade sighed, smile dropping. "It'd be nice to get back into old habits."

Oliver slumped back in the cot, yesterday being eventful for him, and he hardly slept, which wasn't unusual, except for the fact that he really wanted to go back to sleep. 

Out of nowhere, something hit Oliver in the face.  He scrunched up his nose as he examined the item curiously. After a moment he recognized it. "This is your shirt." He said to Slade, stating the obvious. 

"Yes, well it was the closest thing to me that I could throw. You can either put that on or get your own shirt out, fold mine back up and put it away." Slade said, lingering in the shared hut just long enough to see Oliver grumble and slide his shirt on.

***

Once again on guard duty, Oliver heard two other Soldiers discussing the lengths of his Slade's relationship.

"I would stop talking." Oliver said, not turning to face them. " Because everything you are suggesting is a lie and  a bit insulting." 

The two shut up, then shuffled away a bit to discuss something new. Slade must have also heard the conversation because he said- "Am I really that revolting?"

"Hey!" Oliver said, feeling the need to defend himself from the verbal attack. "You had the exact same reaction I did when Waller suggested it back in Hong Kong. Oh god..."

"What?"

"If more than one person is suggesting it then..."Oliver stepped away from Slade.

"Seriously Kid?" The man questioned.

"Eh, you're right. At least you aren't bad looking." 

"Gee thanks." Slade said sarcastically. "You ain't too shabby yourself. Why would people even think we're dating? You're in your twenties, I'm in my early forties."

Oliver shrugged his shoulders. "In the real world that doesn't matter. I mean we're both consenting adults and- Wait! Why are we talking about this?"

"I don't know. You threatened somebody and somehow... it led to this..."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not edit this, so sorry for any mistakes left behind. Also I ended up lying about a lack of seriousness.  
> I was going to have a scene where Slade called Oliver Ollie, but that didn't make it into this chapter.  
> Anyways, sorry for the long wait. I hope this chapter was good enough to make up for it!  
> Love you, bye!


	27. Prove yourself (temporarily)

Oliver was making his rounds, walking through the purple flowers. Up close, he got a better look at them and was pretty sure the violet petals and bulbous white sections were a drug of sorts. He wasn't exactly sure where Slade was, but he heard around that he was on some scoping mission of the island.

There was a pang of anxiety and worry as Oliver never told Slade about that stupid pack he was given; it never came up. He was able to ease the feelings when he remembered that Slade was more trained then the two of men he was with combined. If anyone saw it, it'd be him and he could easily sway them to continue another route.

"Like a fish to water." Said a petite woman with dark hair in a bun who was currently kneeling to attend to the plant. She hadn't  said it very loudly, but Oliver wasn't your average joe and heard it easily. He turned to her, making his way over. He was pretty sure the woman wanted him to hear her.

"What did you say?" Oliver asked.

The woman shifted to look at him. "People gossip." She said, nearly breathless in tone, and Oliver noticed that she had an accent. "They say you're a rich mans kid who got shipwrecked here after escaping captors. Not really your strong suit, telling others what to do for a change. But then, you seem quite adapted, and probably have no sympathy for us, right? Because you paid your price already, correct?"

Oliver didn't know where she heard that, but he never got a chance to reply because he turned at the sound of muffled yelling.

"We got a runner!" Conklin shouted. He turned towards another man saying, "All right, watch the field."

Oliver took off in the mans direction. He reached the red shirted man before Conklin and leaped off the ground and barreled into him. He ended up rolling off the other and off to the side, but who cares? His target was down.

As soon as he hit the ground, however, Oliver was up again. So was the other man though, in a kneeling position and Oliver gripped his shirt.

"Hey! Come on, man, lets do this the easy way." Then Oliver pulled him up.

"Yeah! That's the way." Conklin announced, suddenly near them, smirking. "Well, " He said, hitting a hand against his leg. " What you going to do, talk him into surrendering?" Then Conklin inhaled, switched his gun around, and slammed the butt into the escapee's head.

" _Nice tackle, kid!"_ Oliver heard out of nowhere. He looked up to see Slade standing at the edge of the clearing, hands cupped around his mouth, the rest of his party behind him, and seemingly had seen the whole thing.

"Yeah? " Oliver called back. "Real mature!" 

"Thats how you do it." Conklin informed Oliver, grabbing his attention once again. After a moment, they both bent down to lift the man up.

The pair were well on there way through the druggy vibe flowers, still dragging an unconcious man and passing the woman Oliver had earlier been sneered at by, when Conklin spoke.

"That restraint you showed back there? Bury it. Violence is the only thing these losers understand. Guys out here can't handle that, and they either wash out or end up doing the product. "

Oliver and Conklin both threw the man to the ground, and Oliver turned to face the other.

"Both of which are fast-tracks to a bullet in the head." The mercenary continued. 

"The product- Reiter hasn't told me a lot about it." Oliver said, both as a topic changer and to allow a freeway of information. 

"He calls it 'slam'." Conklin revealed. "A genetically modified hybrid. One part heroin poppy, one part coca leaf. Gets you higher than the empire state. "

Oliver was annoyed to be interrupted by the exact same bearded man that had found him a few days prior. 

"Conklin! We got a problem." He said, running, and then coming to an eventual halt."Some slam's missing. A whole cake."

Conklin faced forward and kicked at the dirt. "The runner was just a distraction. Any idea who did it?"

Bearded man shook his head.

"Alright, then. Round 'em up!" He said, shouting the second part for the others to hear.

A the other man turned away Oliver questioned Conklin. "What are you going to do?"

"I told you. There's only one thing these losers respond to." He replied gruffly before stalking off. 

***

"I like to think of all of us as a team," Started Conklin, spitting after, and  sitting on a crate under one of the little, poorly made roofs that was still in the open. The others were gathered around; mercenaries and prisoners. Slade was standing near the bearded guy from earlier.

"Teammates need to trust each other." He continued, standing and taking a few steps forward. "Right now, I'm having a little difficulty doing that. Why don't one of ya'll tell me who stole the product, or else this man right here is going to eat a bullet." The mercenary pointed a gun at a kneeling man before him. The other prisoners were kneeling behind him, hands placed on their heads as instructed.

Oliver saw the woman from before look fearfully between the Conklin and the targeted male. The thought that maybe she did it danced across his mind.

"Nobody?" Conklin said, voice sounding slightly distant. Oliver could tell the people were frightened , sweat  dripping in beads down their necks. He shared a glance with Slade.

Conklin shot the man then. The gun was quiet, no echoing heard. It was one of those silent guns. "Lets try this again." He called out louder, as a black and white male came to retrieve the limp body. They placed before him a bald man with a ragged shirt and grime stuck to his skin. 

"Hey! Wait, wait, wait, wait." Oliver said in a hushed tone and Conklin reared his head back slightly to listen. 

"You said that violence is the only thing these people respond to. Well, it doesn't seem to be working."

"What to you have in mind? Harsh language?" Conklin asked.

"I've been on this island three years," Oliver said, tilting his head slightly before returning it to normal. "Learned some things." 

"About what?"

Oliver paused, looked down, then responded. "Pain."

Once again, the assassin and Slade's eyes met. Hardly noticeable, Slade gave a nod of approval. This would be one way to gain the mercenaries and Reiter's trust.

***

The bald man was tied in a chair. Conklin, another man, and Oliver were under the clothe, hand made, little pavilion while others peered inside to watch. Slade stood nearby. He knew whatever Oliver did, it wouldn't be pretty. He'd seen the kid torture before.

The bald guy screamed, and it was followed by sobbing as Oliver drug the knife through the flesh and muscle of his thigh, kneeling beside him.

"What fancy private school did you pick this up in?" Conklin asked. Oliver found it strange. He was almost completely sure the man knew his 'background' story. Which involved him being kidnapped. Which was also kind of true, but not in the way they thought.

"I learned it here." Oliver replied dryly. Then he looked back to the man he was torturing. "Three years on this island, and I have been hurt every way you can imagine. I know what kills, I know what cripples, and what just hurts."

He dug the knife a bit deeper, farther forward; he was at the man's knee. His screaming bounced back into play, echoing. 

"Stop!" Cried the previously sneering woman, jumping to her feet. One of the guards played after her, but she was instead stopped by the two men standing guard. Conklin switched around to pull his gun on her.

"Stop! He didn't take the drugs." She confessed. "I did. You're working us too hard," She started to gain confidence. " And some of the other prisoners are hurt. I wanted to give them something for the pain. "

"And where's the slam now?" Conklin snarled, gun still aimed point blank at the woman.

"Its all used up and I'm not going to tell you by who. So if you're going to kill me, just get on with it." 

"Suit yourself." Conklin said, crazy grin dancing and disappearing at his lips. He cocked the weapon.

"Wait, wait, wait." Oliver said, suddenly standing up. He felt Slade's eyes on him. Could practically hear the other mans thinking. Slade could  tell Oliver trying to save this woman's life was endangering what he just did to get the mercenaries trust. Oliver sighed. " You've already executed one prisoner today. How's Reiter going to feel about you exterminating his work force?"

Once again he looked at Slade, and judging by the others expression, he played the right card. 

"I think he'd make an exception for a thief." Conklin rivalled, clearly angry with the woman.

"Or I could just make her disappear." Oliver suggested. Conklin paused, then looked at him. 

"Take her some place," Oliver continued . " They'll never find the body." He looked straight into her dark eyes as he said this. 

Conklin glanced back to the brave woman, and she swallowed. "All right. Take her." He said, all anger extracted from his voice. "Keep him company." He commanded a dark skinned, bald man. 

Oliver and Slade stared at each other. Slade wanted to go with him also, and to be honest, Oliver wanted him to come. They hadn't really been near each other much lately. Will small hand gestures, he signaled that the man could not assist, as that might be suspicious if anything went out of play. 

***

Oliver was getting the woman and himself a ways away from the man following them. Her hands were tied behind her back, and even if she didn't know, it annoyed Oliver slightly to be picked at while he was trying to be nice.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" She jeered. "Torturing that man. You don't even know what his name is."

"Walk faster." Oliver said quietly, but gruffly. 

"Elias," She sneered. "That was his name. Elias." 

"Faster." Oliver grit out through shut teeth. 

"I am in no rush to get to my death." The woman retaliated. 

"I'm trying to put some distance between us." Oliver admitted.

"Between us and Richards?" Asked the woman as they quickly rounded a tree and Richards began running after them. No unkindness traced her words anymore.

"No, between us-" He was cut off suddenly by an explosion behind them. 

Oliver placed a hand on the women's head pulling her into him, and curling his body around hers to protect her. As soon as the danger was gone, he stood up and released her of her bonds. 

"Between us and the landmine." Oliver finally finished. The woman was looking at him as he said it, surprised and panting. 

"Listen to me," Oliver continued. " I am not going to kill you. But you need to trust me, or we're both dead. Do you understand?"

"Yes." The woman agreed.

"Okay." Oliver answered softly, grabbing her arm and switching them around to once again walk.

Richards' death was going to be a nightmare to explain. He doubted that Conklin would ever trust him again, but it was necessary to safe the woman. Oliver could already hear Slade's wonderfully well put together lecture ringing in his ears.

Why did he always have to be right?

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in updating. TBH, I was typing last night but then I went to the bathroom and after that, I just didn't want to write anymore..
> 
> There's an uncharacteristic lack of bromance in this chapter.


	28. An ancient trick

Oliver threw down the wood chunk, turning back to address the woman. After escaping Richard's prying eyes, the two managed their way to an old, well hidden cave Oliver had spotted during his earlier time on the island.

"I want you to wait till nightfall to light a fire." He advised. "Otherwise, your going to draw attention." Oliver snatched a box of matches from the ground as an emphasis. "All right, there's fresh water coming off a stream at the base of the hill." He was sitting now, and the woman looked on warily, tired and confused at the sudden change of personality. "There's edible plants maybe 50 feet to the north. Hey, do not eat the red berries, and do not let anyone see you."

"Why are you doing this?" She asked, and Oliver could tell she was trying to figure out if this was a cruel trick or not. "Risking your life to save mine?"

"Its complicated."

"They may think I'm dead, but they're going to come looking for you."

"They're not going to come looking for me. I'm going back to camp." He dismissed quickly. 

"I've watched those men," The woman warned. "They are like brothers to each other. They have a history, a bond. You're not one of them."

"That's why you're going to have to do something for me, and you're not going to like." Oliver said, shaking his head.

***

When Oliver returned to camp, he met Slade's watchful eyes. His partner seemed inquisitive as to where Richards was and he shook his head.  Slade, seemingly understanding the message, shook his head as well, seeming resigned. Clearly, he understood that the mans death would bring no good faith to Oliver.

Changing the subject, Slade brushed his hand through his hair to represent the woman Oliver supposedly killed. In response, Oliver gestured to his heart, giving a thumbs up afterwards.

Slade clenched his teeth, obviously thinking the course of past actions would be nothing but horrible for Oliver. He had a plan Slade was yet to be aware of though. Sure, he'd be knocked back from the little trust he had to no trust at all, but at he that wasn't dead.

He ducked under Conklin's tent-like area and was met to said man sipping an unknown liquid from a dingy mug.

" The hell happened to you?" Was his gruff welcome.

"The woman tried to escape," He sighed then, "We chased her, but she went through a minefield."

"Thought I heard an explosion earlier," Said a light voiced, mostly shaved man with a beard.

"That one got Richards." Oliver said almost quickly.

"Son of a bitch." Conklin said, leaning forwards on his desk, hands clasped in a prayful motion.

"I caught her... eventually." Oliver said, still managing to force himself to sound slightly winded. "Made it memorable."

Conklin was staring at him with calculating gray-blue eyes that made Oliver wonder if the man wasn't falling for his charade. Then he glanced at the bearded man and Oliver figured now was the time to start talking again.

"What, I'm supposed to kill her, right?"

"Her, yeah. Richards, not so much." Conklin told him. 

"I didn't kill Richards. I told you-"

"A landmine. I know." The other bit back. Oliver had to suppress the urge to either swallow or just kill everyone and report back to Amanda Waller and the assholes who dumped him and Slade there in the first place.

"You know what's funny?" Conklin asked, walking out from behind the desk now. " We've been here for months without a problem, and here you come and two guys get wasted by landmines."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Oliver asked even though he knew exactly what Conklin was implying. 

"It means I want to see her." Conklin spit, stepping towards Oliver. "The woman. I want to see the body."

Oliver glanced behind Conklin to the one other man in the tent momentarily before responding. "Okay."

***

"How'd you do it?" Conklin asked suddenly as Oliver led him through a clearing towards where the woman was supposedly 'dead'. "Killed the woman. How'd you do it?"

"Strangled her." Oliver said absent mindedly.

"I thought you said you said you made it- what was that word- memorable." Conklin said, but he didn't sound like he was prying like before. He sounded genuinely curious.

"Ah, she won't forget it." 

Oliver stopped then, because the other was looking strangely at him.

"What?" He asked. "You going to propose?"

"You don't sound like a guy who just committed his first murder. And I'm guessing you didn't have too many opportunities in the captivity you grew up in."

"You think I'm lying?" A small, dull smile was on his face as he said it, like a warning.

"I think if you're not, then you're a stone cold killer." Conklin accused. 

Oliver could have laughed at the mans words. 'Stone Cold Killer' is basically what his job title was, being an assassin and all.

"Even if you didn't off her, even if you're messing with me-" The man continued. " Which I do not recommend... I see it in your eyes. Reiter saw it, too. It's probably why he recruited you."

"Saw what?" Oliver bit out quietly. He wasn't in any way sensitive but he did not like where this conversation was headed.

"You are one dark bastard." Conklin told him. "Something very cold inside of you. You're terrified of it."

"Okay Conklin," Oliver started lowly, looking over the mans shoulder. He wasn't scared of what he was; what he was born to be. Right? "Tell me something. If I'm this dark person... Shouldn't you be afraid of me?"

"Nah. I'm the exact same way." Conklin reasoned. "If you're lying to me, you're going to find that out."  Then he walked past Oliver with a tight lipped, second lasting, smile. Oliver bit his lip in annoyance. Conklin had no idea. 

***

Oliver led the other into the cave, which is something his brain screamed at him not to do.

The woman way spread out on a bristle covered rock. Conklin walked around her, examining; trying to see if her death was genuine. He glanced at Oliver before reaching for the woman's pulse, coming away without anything.

Conklin smiled at this. "Like I said-" He was looking at Oliver. "Stone cold killer." 

"You satisfied?"

" Get rid of the body." Conklin commanded, looking around the chambers expanse. "This cave might be useful for something." He grinned at Oliver as he walked out the drafty, but light casted cave.

Oliver walked over to the woman's body, casting one last look at the entrance before kneeling down besides the body. He gripped the chin, pushed in and up, and the woman gasped quietly as life rushed back to her.

It was an ancient trick he had learned from an old Chinese man he had spent months training with. Oliver had used it countless times, whether to scare a victim into giving him the information he wanted by using the method on a family member, or luring someone in with the sight of a 'dead' body.

"It's okay." Oliver quietly reassured her. "You're okay."

Still lying down, not even turning her face put just directing her eyes towards him, the woman asked, "How did you- where did you learn to do that?" She sounded breathless, and scared.

"I learned from an old friend years ago."

"You- you were in captivity your entire life. Who would have taught you that?" 

Oliver inhaled and exhaled deeply. "That was a cover story. I was not held in captivity for my whole life."

"Wha- what do you me-" The woman stuttered.

Oliver shushed her gently. "That's a story for another time, alright?"

The woman nodded.

***

Conklin was making his way back to camp, gun held tightly to his chest. So Queen wasn't a liar. It still didn't make up for the fact that in the short time he's been there two men have died; last seen by him and by landmines while he somehow escaped. 

The other was killer though. Cold and heartless, and Conklin admired that about him. He almost didn't leave Queen after telling him to dispose of that woman's body, but did. 

He checked for himself, the bitch was dead.

Just as he was rounding a tree, a camouflaged looking thing stood out among the reed-like grasses it was tucked into. Bending down, he removed ferns off of it to discover a pack.

Opening it, Conklin pulled out some sort of miniaturized computer/communication device. He unclicked the main part, then unfolded the key pad. 

Displayed on the screen, a conversation about infiltrating his and Reiter's camp popped up. Conklin growled, immediately knowing this was Queen. Did that mean that Wilson guy couldn't be trusted?

Were Queen's captors actually alive? Had they trained him to be like this? A stone cold killer? Why would they be interested in what was going on here though? Conklin barely knew a thing about Reiter's mission and he was second in command.  Was Queen even abandoned here for three years? He seemed to know his way around.

Stopping all thoughts, all Conklin could say was, "Son of a bitch." 

***

Oliver hadn't seen Conklin since his return and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It's not like he really had enough time to catch a glimpse of him, because almost immediately after his return, he along with Slade, and two other men, Parker and Johnson, were called out of patrol. 

It nagged at him, an anxious little worried ball in his chest as they walked as to if Conklin discovered his hidden pack. Oliver hadn't led the man in that direction, near it, but not that clearing, so he didn't think the other would find it but you could never be too careful.

"Hey," Slade said, elbowing him in the ribs and bringing him back to the present. "What's got you so quiet? Didn't go well with Conklin?"

"It went fine," Oliver said, elbowing him back.

"Then  _why,"_ Slade huffed, jabbing at him again. "Are you so quiet?"

"I'm just thinking." He replied, returning the favor.

They continued that way, elbowing each other just to see who could get in the last hit. Johnson and Parker were a few meters behind them when the two disappeared from view, tumbling down a decent sized decline of land as the jabs got more forceful.

Oliver landed hard on his back, winded from the force. All the air was knocked from his lungs and he gasped silently, attempting to gather air in his lungs.

Slade had landed on top of him, held up on his forearms and Oliver briefly wondered why he wasn't winded before realizing that Slade hadn't landed hard on his back, he had landed on Oliver, stopping himself from crushing him at the last second.

"You okay, kid?" Slade panted out.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. You?" Oliver answered in a breathy tone as well.

"Well I'm not dead, so that's a plus." Was his sarcastic answer.

They stayed like that, Oliver on his back, arms pinned to his side, and Slade leering above him, held up by his forearms, for a few minutes or maybe less; time seemed slow.

"Slade," Oliver finally huffed out. "Will you  _get off_ me?"

"Oh," Slade realized, seemingly just noticing he was still on top of his partner. 

He jumped to his feet, and just as he was offering Oliver a hand up, Parker and Johnson met up with them. The two apparently took their sweet time descending the decline. 

"What's- uh what's going on here?" Parker asked skeptically.

"We just fell." Slade said, sounding annoyed.

" _Uh huh._ " Parker responded, clearly not believing it.

Oliver sighed deeply in irritation. He knew exactly what the man was thinking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was an attempt at bromance, probably not a great one, but an attempt.
> 
> (THAT WAS NOT ROMANCE OR THE START OF A RELATIONSHIP)


	29. "About Something You Forgot."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know its been 1 month since I last updated. I've just been really busy this month with due dates, birthdays, and Christmas. Sorry for any inconvience.

It was just another hot - well as hot as the island could be- day patrolling Reiter's deranged camp. Oliver was just coming around a ruffled looking hut he assumed to be a bathroom or bathhouse when a jeep came to a stop before him.

"Hey, just in time." Conklin said in friendly tones, pushing open the vehicle's door from his seat. "I was looking for you."

"Why?" Oliver asked, keeping out suspicious tones. The first thing he thought was how he should have never left Conklin to walk back to camp alone. Who knows what could have happened.

"I want to talk to you about something you forgot." The man admitted, now out of the car and holding up the pack that Amanda Waller's assholes left him with. 

Ignoring the voices screaming that he was an idiot for actually abandoning Conklin, Oliver set his extremely  convincing poker face.

"What's that?" He asked, glancing good naturedly from the pack to Conklin's face. 

"Is that how you want to play this?" Said man asked, voice low, dangerous. "Its fine by me, pal. Let's go." He finished by disarming Oliver of his gun. 

He glanced at Conklin and decided he would just have to play things off. Oliver was almost certain he had favor with Reiter. Slade had asked around and some on the soldiers believed so. 

***

The pair walked in on Reiter slapping some blond guy in a white shirt who was kneeling at the mans feet.

"I don't appreciate the intrusion gentlemen." He said as soon as Conklin and Oliver entered, though his voice was mostly calm.

"There's communications gear in here." Conklin accused nastily. "We've got ourselves a mole."

"You believe its Mr. Queen." Reiter said, not even asking it.

"Look," Conklin replied, setting down the pack. " We've been on this island eight months without a single problem. He and Mr. Australia show up and suddenly two guys  _find_ landmines and a bunch of drugs go missing."

"Yeah, Conklin, you got me." Oliver said, dry humor lacing his words. "I didn't, uh, wash up here on shore after a boating accident; I parachuted in on a secret spy mission!" He turned to look at the man as he ended his sentence.

"You wanna die a liar that's fine by me." Conklin said angrily.

"Man, that's enough." Oliver said exasperatedly, waving his hand dismissively 

"Enough!" Reiter said finally, ending the quarrel. "There are more pressing matters at hand. Perhaps if you were more focused on external threats rather than witch hunts, you would have caught this man spying on us in the fields."

"Oh I wasn't spying, mate." The man said attractively in a British accent. The voiced opinion earned him a solid punch from Reiter. 

The force made him groan, turning around in his bonds.

"Any of you squabblers got a cigarette?" He asked, sounding nearly unaffected. 

"Who's he?" Oliver asked pointing lazily at the brit. 

"John Constantine." He said, answering for himself. "Says so right on the business card your boss took from me.

"He had this on his person as well." Reiter interrupted, finger pointing to something as he held it up. "Do you... recognize these landmarks?"

Oliver took a couple steps forward. "Yeah."

"Good." He said, folding the map. "Whatever it is Mr. Constantine is looking for, I want you to find it and bring it back to me."

"Oh come on, I'm telling you, you can't trust him! Conklin said, obviously annoyed. 

"Then you can follow him." Reiter shot back with a warning in his tone. 

Suddenly, Constantine began mumbling a foreign language. 

"What are you doing? Are you actually praying?" Conklin asked amusedly, finding his assumption humorous. 

"No." Constantine grinned, looking up from where his head was bowed. "No, these aren't prayers, mate." 

Just as Conklin lost his humor, the man brandished his hands before him, free of bonds.

Conklin pulled a handgun on him but Constantine seemed to have a bit of a frisky background and - after gripping his shirt- punched him in the face. The victimized man fell back into a couple of tables pushed together and onto the dirt. 

Reiter immediately pulled out his handgun of the man instead. 

"Ah, ah, ah ,ah, ah, ah!" Constantine pointed the gun Conklin dropped at Oliver's head and said man shut his eyes slowly, annoyed. Yep definitely having way too may guns pointed at his head as of late.

"Unless you want to redecorate your lovely hut with his brains, I suggest you drop your weapon." He continued, pointing at Reiter.

At first, Oliver wasn't sure what Reiter would do. Conklin just exposed him as a mole. Even though he fought for the favor of not being one, Reiter was bound to trust Conklin more than Oliver. To his surprise, the black male threw his hands out to the side, gun being tossed off to the side as well. 

Oliver glanced at Reiter just as Constantine whistled. "On the floor."

"You won't escape this island." Reiter warned, slowly lowering himself to the ground, arms still displayed out to the sides. 

"Ah, I don't intend on leaving just yet. Come on, you." He said, roughly gripping Oliver's shoulder to shove him outside of the hut.

"You really know the landmark on that map?" Constantine asked, wiping blood from his lip, gun still aimed for Oliver's head.

Oliver caught Slade's eye; the man seemingly repressing his urge to kill the man threatening his long time fighting partner. The assassin shook his head and Slade hesitantly nodded back, eyes never leaving to two blonds.

"Don't shake your head, answer the question!" Constantine demanded.

"Yes." Oliver replied quickly, now being walked backwards. 

"You do?" The other man asked, wanting to reassure himself.

"Yes."

"Good," He said simply, shooting two tires of the only other jeep in the tiny civilization to stop any attempts to either quickly follow them or escape. 

"You're going to show me. Now drive!" Constantine demanded, pushing Oliver to the other mobile.

***

Oliver pulled to a stop on a dirt road covered with tiny bits of wooden debris surrounded by grass and then fanning out to trees.

"Get out." Constantine said rudely, opening his own car door side. Oliver complied and the gun was immediately back on him. 

"You sure this is the place?'

"It's the place." Oliver reassured, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "What's going on? Who are you?" 

"How much do you know about what your boss is really doing on this island, mate?" Constantine asked, herding Oliver into the grass as he started in that direction.

"He's making drugs." Oliver said simply, hitting his hand against the sides of his legs even though he knew much more than what he was letting on. 

Constantine chuckled. "If only. Your friend Reiter, he's the dangerous sort."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Oliver pushed, looking halfway at his so far rude companion.

"It means there are things on this island that bad people shouldn't have access to."

Oliver fully turned around at this point, stopping. " Says the guy with a gun pointed at my head."

"Ah. I'm not a bad guy." Constantine corrected, putting away the gun. " A little hard scrabble, sure, but, uh, I'm on the side of the angels, mate." He paused. "At least when they're not trying to screw me over."

Constantine took lead of Oliver. "You're right, this is the spot."

Oliver mumbled incoherently to himself as Constantine bended over murmuring and grabbing at the ferns, grinding the pulled off leaves in his hands. "Ahh."

He stood up, eyes shut, rubbing both hands together and began to speak. " De cruinne- ce agus akasha seall me do solas!" Constantine released the crushed ferns and they floated into the air, and into a swirling pattern. 

As Oliver looked on, confused and a bit unbelieving, Constantine looked at him cockily. "What? You've never seen magic before?" 

Oliver didn't answer just looked at the ground where a wooden hatch had appeared. Constantine yanked it open, grunting. 

"Well, go on then, Alice. Down the rabbit hole you go." He told Oliver.

***

"I don't understand. How did you..."

Constantine's silver lighter was still lit after he lit the old fashioned lamp when he interrupted Oliver. 

"Well, that's the great thing about magic. Can't be explained." In the dark, dimly lit, dusty secret chamber, Constantine repointed the gun at Oliver; though the young assassin didn't care. 

"There are places in this world as old as the world." He continued; they were slowly walked down the corridor now. " Places of Nexus draw bad people to them." He lit another torch. 

"This island is such a place. It's no accident that you're here." Constantine continued before they stopped in front of  a wooden threshold on the ground engraved in strange, ancient symbols. 

"Let me guess- 'Do not enter.'" Oliver said.

"More like, 'only for the pure of heart'." Constantine responded, tucking his new, stolen gun into his pants. He grabbed Oliver's wrist, cuffing him to a steel torch handle with his earlier bonds. Oliver didn't resist; knowing he could escape. 

"That's not you, mate." Constantine ended with, clapping Oliver on the back.

***

John grinned as he walked through the red curtains; seeing his prized possession. The gold staff topped with red gem was the whole bloody reason he was on the island of Lian Yu. "There you are, my pretty girl."

"How do you know its a girl?" He heard from behind. The man that led him here- Queen if he heard correctly earlier- said. 

John turned his head, looking incredulously at the man. 

"I can do that trick, too." Queen responded, holding up the hand cuffs. 

"Clever boy." John chided, shifting his attention back to his mysterious artifact. He gripped the golden staff, attempting to release it from the rock it was rested in. 

"I'd usually be more artful, but I'm on something of a clock." John grunted as it finally pulled out. He heard a sound, almost like rushing water and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground with Queen to the side of him. Looking back, a stone hexagon shape with humongous spikes sticking out was slammed down on where he was previously standing moments before. 

Queen pulled himself to his knees. "I'm not a bad guy either."

John believed him. If he was a bad guy, Queen would've left him to be impaled. After all, he had been pointing a gun and such at the man.

So when Queen stretched out a hand to help him up, John took it without hesitation. 

***

"Thanks, mate. I owe you one." Constantine said when they were above ground, throwing the staff over his shoulder.

"What the hell is all this?" Oliver asked, hands out to the side. 

"Oh, this is the Orb of Horus." Constantine replied, holding it in front of him as he led the way out of the ferns. "It's actually a grimoire. An ancient spell book." He looked back at Oliver to see him looking disbelieving, exasperated that such a thing even existed. Oliver knew he shouldn't be, he was a part of the League of Assassins. What they dealt with wasn't exactly normal.

"You asked."

"And, uh, what are you going to do with it?" Oliver asked, throwing a single hand before himself.

"Same as I do with all the other mystical objects I find- I keep them in a safe place, away from the Baron Reiters of this this world." 

Constantine turned to him, exhaling shortly and momentarily putting his hands out to the sides of him. "Remember what I told you about this island, mate. This Reiter bloke is not only here for the narcotics. But then again, it's not your problem, is it? Come back with me. I've got a boat on the southern shore."

"You saw those people at camp. I can't leave them behind. Besides, I've got someone there, as well."

"Lover or partner in crime?" Constantine asked.

"Partner in crime." Oliver answered.

"Well , aren't you the hero?"

Oliver scoffed, then admitted- "I also can't come back empty empty-handed. Conklin suspects me enough as it is."

"Fair enough." John said, tossing the staff slightly in his hands and looking at it. He turned around and slammed it against an area on the jeep. Picking up the ruby red gem, he tossed it to Oliver. "Here. Goons likes Reiter, they're only interested in sparkly bits, anyway. The real power is in the spell. Here. Here, I'll show you."

John held the staff up to a Chinese writing tattoo he had on his arm and began chanting- "Yateeka masaha la hasra laha… watahseen hayda albaled almodeef…"

The tattoo disappeared from his arm by the time he finished and ordered -" Lift up your shirt, mate?" Though it wasn't really a question. 

"What?" Oliver asked. John gestured his hand in a 'lift up' motion and Oliver complied. 

Holding one hand just from touching the side of Oliver's stomach, the other splayed to the side, Constantine started speaking again. "Mah qoo-wat min aldaw alzalam."

He moved his arm away when done and Oliver looked down and back up a few times, seeing that the tattoo was now on his subjected area of skin. 

"What the hell did you just do?" Oliver asked.

"I gave you some insurance against Reiter. And when the time comes, you'll know how to use it. Now, I believe that concludes our business." John explained holding out a hand for Oliver to shake.

He stammered for a second then said, "I-I need you to punch me in the face." 

"Right. My, uh, escape attempt left a bruise, right?" Constantine guessed. When Oliver didn't answer, he continued. "All right. I must warn you, I've got a hell of a right hook."

Oliver shook his head a few times, preparing for the hit. Constantine wheeled back and hit hard.

John was right. He did have a hell of a right hook.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know there hasn’t been much Slade but we’ll have him in the next chapter


	30. That Blonde Bastard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My name is MythicalCypressWater. For a month and a half, I have been stranded on the island of Stress. I had only one goal: complete all my school work. Now, I am returning to fanfic writing with an apology but to do this I must write so see you soon.

Oliver made his way back to camp after following John half way to the other mans own destination. Well, not really followed but Oliver did drive John to a certain point. He had switched off the terrain jeep, shook the mans hand and wished to never see him again. John, of course, knew it was more for other reasons than dislike of the other and took the comment graciously.

Then, Oliver watched the mysterious blond disappear into the green bushes. When he did arrive back to camp, explaining what happened had been a bitch. Especially with trust barely hanging onto his shoulders at the moment. Oliver knew Slade quite well he would say, but he was not at all prepared for the reaction he received.

* * *

"Little blond bastard. See this is why you don't trust 'em."

"Slade...Slade... _Slade!_ "

"What?" Slade asked in exasperation, pausing in his movements. 

Oliver got this look on his face and gestured vaguely at the other man. The ASIS agent was bent before Oliver, who was sitting on his cot, holding a wet rag. He'd been ranting and dabbing at Oliver's injured face for about two minutes now.

"What in the world is up with you? You never act like this."

"Act like what?" Slade asked, glancing at the tent-like structures closed door when he heard an increase of voices.

The young assassin pushed past Slade to stand up. "I was  _punched._ Far worse has happened to me that's gotten less of a reaction out of you."

Slade let out a deep sigh, placing his hands on his knees and pushing himself up into a standing stance. He tossed the damp, blue rag off to the side before finally facing the taller man.

"Yeah. I don't know, kid. Guess that  _Constantine_ as you called him, was just so smug and cocky. Couldn't handle it." He rubbed his tan hands over his face. "I feel like I've been screwed six ways to hell since we got to this dumbass camp full of jackasses. And then Conklin's on your ass so I have to stress about you ruining our mission."

Picking up on the dry humor lacing Slade's words, Oliver responded simply because for the love of him, he couldn't think of anything else to say. "Yeah." He touched just above his eyebrow where a laceration sat on top of a nasty bruise, walking over to glance outside. 

"Well, sun's just about setting so we have patrol."

"Sure do." Slade responded.

***

By the time both of them were geared up and outside about to meet with whoever else they'd be going over the island with, Reiter popped in to say hello.

"Change of plans, boys. Mr. Queen here is going to be showing us where Mr. Constantine took him."

Slade glanced at Oliver's face to get  gauge of what was about to happen.

"Of course." Oliver responded after a second of hesitation. 

Reiter already knew about the magical things that Lian Yu contained since Oliver had brought back that golden sectors ruby red top half. He told the black male its what Constantine was after. Which was half true. Oliver honestly should've know, hell he half way did, that Reiter would want to go there. 

He ignored the rude, horrible way that Conklin stared at him and followed Reiter to the mans own little area.

* * *

"Why didn't you ever tell us about this place before?" Conklin asked from where he stood, armed, behind Oliver in the dark hallways of the underground catacombs. Oliver knew Slade wasn't here, though the man put up a hell of a fight so he could be. Reiter announced (though it was mostly suggested by Conklin) that the man stay guarded at camp until further notice because if they couldn't trust Oliver, perhaps he wasn't trustworthy either. 

"I didn't know it was here." Oliver said, hands splayed slightly to the sides before looking back at Reiter; who was besides Conklin. "But it seems like you did.

Reiter passed Oliver up now, saying "I know this island isn't all that it seems. You've done well Mr. Queen."

"But you let the British guy get away." Conklin added unhelpfully, trying to make Oliver look bad. 

"Woah, wait, Reiter." Oliver interrupted suddenly, grabbing the mans upper arm. "Constantine said that there was some sort of barrier, like  _magic._ "

"I have no interest in the chamber." Reiter replied, bending down and lowering the red ball, which was now glowing, to the gravely floor. He passed it over the symbols on the wood at the doorstep and they glowed a gentle blue. Reiter continued forcing it to travel until he reached the wall which was covered in similar, but smaller symbols.

"What is that?" Oliver asked.It looked vaguely familiar, perhaps something he came across in his language studies, but nothing he could decipher. 

"A message, from the ancients." Reiter replied, as he brought the jewel up until he stood. The wall section still glowed with beautiful blue symbols. "Leading to a very special gift... Heart of water." He turned to Oliver. "Have you seen a cove on the island, surrounded by mountains?"

"Yeah, I know of one."

"I want you to go to that point and lead an excavation." Reiter instructed intensely."Take a dozen of the laborers and work them until you find my gift." 

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" Came Conklin's voice lightly from behind. 

Reiter walked past Oliver and down the hall in the opposite direction with the other man. "All right, first, what aren't you telling me about what we're doing here?" Conklin asked. "I mean, apart from everything." They stopped now, so the questioning man turned to face his boss. 

"And second?" Reiter asked instead of answering.

"Queen is a mole. Don't start trusting him just because he gave you a piece of bling."

Reiter got closer to Conklin, maybe thinking his authority was being threatened and replied, "Accompany Mr. Queen to the cove."

Conklin glanced at Oliver and with his training, Oliver heard the entire conversation.

 

* * *

"This isn't over you know. You and me." Conklin said as Oliver walked past him, gravel crunching beneath his feet. He probably had about a dozen or so people searching for a 'gift' and they didn't even know what it looked like.

"I'm so glad." He replied before sighing raggedly. "We need to get a couple of people in the water. Dive down, see what you can find."

"Everyone is tired." Said a man is a dirty orange jacket. "We've been here for hours. If you want them to work, they have to be able to."

"Are you their leader?" Oliver asked. 

"I'm the guy telling you to let them rest." The other replied, walking forwards.

"Ok," Oliver said. "You brought food. Take fifteen minutes and eat." 

"Well ain't you employer of the month." Conklin snarked when he walked back towards him.

"I'm going to need you to keep an eye on them, and I'm going to go enjoy my lunch in peace."

***

As soon as Oliver was gone, Conklin walked over to the man from earlier, who wasn't too far from him. "Hey Ukraine." He said. 

"My name is Vlad." The other said boldly. 

"Well, Vlad, how'd you like your life to get a little better?"

* * *

Oliver walked quickly into the cave where he left that women. It looked like she just jumped up from the area where he had left her 'dead' body and was holding a rock, panting slightly. She exhaled when she saw who it was and lowered the rock, relief washing over her features.

"Nice instincts." Oliver complimented. 

"I wasn't sure you were coming back." The women said. 

"Well... I said that I would." He said gently, walking near her fire to place the food he just pulled from his pack down. 

"I guess its no surprise to you, but I lost faith in people doing what they said they're going to do." She responded, sitting down next to him.

"Did you notice Reiter interested in anything other than the camp or drugs?" Oliver asked, changing the subject. 

"Yeah. He also enjoys stealing people away from their families." 

"Well, have you seen him do anything, uh, mystical... or even... magical?"

"He always has been a little odd." She responded, food sitting on her lap. "And very religious. He's even blessed some of the prisoners. Claims he's healed their souls or some craziness."

Sighing, Oliver replied with, "I'm beginning to think drugs are just a front for what he's really doing here."

"What could be more tempting to a man like him than money?" The woman questioned.

"Power." Oliver said. "I... can't stay long. I can't have Conklin being any more suspicious of me then he already is but you still need to stay here. I'll come back as soon as I can."

"This time," The woman smiled. "I believe you."

***

As soon as Oliver officially got onto the beach, he was side tackled. 

"What the hell?!"

He landed on his stomach in the gravel, orange jacket man lying beside him. The other guy grabbed Oliver by the shirt and threw him into the water. 

The next thing he knew, Oliver was being forced beneath the water. He fought back and eventually gained enough leverage to jerk up, sending the man flying backwards. He tried to punch Oliver, but he blocked it, wrapping his arm around the man's neck. 

The other repeatedly hit his side to try and force him to let up but Oliver wouldn't relent. Yanking up, he snapped the man's neck, then threw him behind him in the water. The group of people were gathered at the waters edge, watching just as Conklin emerged through them.

"What in the hell?!" He shouted. "You better have a story to go along with that body."

Good thing: Oliver did. Bad thing: he didn't know if they'd believe him.

 


	31. Stand together or Not at all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup Bitches?

"Reiter's not gonna like this." Conklin stated. Oliver was stumbling along in front of him, dirt smeared along the eyebrow. He wanted to say something really sarcastic and childish like "No duh! Thank you, Captain Obvious!" But had enough self control to restrain himself. Oliver had already drawn conclusions and he was angry as hell and maybe a bit confused and not too surprised. 

In his rather short lifetime, he'd been back-stabbed and double crossed more times than he could count. It came with the whole assassin gig. Of course, he'd always back-stabbed said person back.  _Literally._

"Not one bit." The other, endangered man finished. "Vlad was a good worker, and they listened to him." 

"Well I didn't have a choice. He was going to kill me." Oliver said, defending himself; watching the other advance before him. ' _Yeah, Conklin, act all fake. Because you know_ nothing  _of what happened.'_

"That doesn't sound like something he'd do." Conklin passed.

"Maybe- maybe he didn't have a choice, either." Oliver said, letting onto his suspicions, showing Conklin what he thought through his tone as he grabbed the mans elbow to make him face him. "Maybe someone put him up to it."

"Maybe it was revenge." Conklin said gruffly. 

"Revenge for what?" Oliver asked exasperatedly, throwing his hands out to the side. 

"For Taiana... That drug stealing bitch you choked out? That was her brother." He seemed to be hiding a malicious, smug little grin as he turned away. Oliver shut his eyes regretfully at the revelation.  _Oh god. What was he gong to tell her?_

* * *

 "What brother?" Reiter demanded when they were back at camp, inside Reiter's little hut.

"The brother of the prisoner that stole the drugs, but only because he put put him up to it." Oliver proclaimed agitatedly 

"You're Crazy!" Conklin shot back. "That prisoner attacked you cause what you did to his sister-"

"That's a lie!" Okay, maybe he sounded-maybe this whole thing sounded- like those petty little fights he and Nyssa would get into as kids but fuck it- he wasn't a damn liar.

"Its a hell of a lot more believable than me putting him up to attacking you!"

"You know what, you have had it in for me ever since you found that knapsack."

"Enough!" Reiter interrupted. "I have a means of divining the truth. "He walked over with a small bundle of reeds in his hand.

His stared with his bug eyes at Oliver uncomfortably while holding up the dried plants to him. "Why  did you kill that prisoner?" 

"Because he attacked me." Oliver answered truthfully. After a moment Reiter moved to Conklin.

"Aww, come on, man, this isn't the place for your hocus pocus crap!" He complained.

"Did you have that prisoner attack Mr. Queen?" He asked instead, ignoring the complaint.

"Hell no." Conklin claimed.

The 'diviner' crackled and began to smoke as Reiter looked at it for the truth. "Your lying." He stated.

"According to what? A bunch of twigs?" Conklin said, covering panic with rage.

"R-Reiter don't do this! You gotta here me out! It's him! He's the problem! He's the problem! Hey!" Conklin said, scrambling to stop the men from taking him away. 

"What are you going to do to him?" Oliver asked softly.

"Nothing." The boss said lightly before his voice hardened. "I Believe the wrong should make things right." Then he stalked out the hut.

Oliver stalked back to the table and grabbed a folded piece of paper, the map, from beneath a yellow, tin container. 

* * *

 Conklin kneeled on the ground, stripped of all his armor and wearing only an army green tank top and pants. A wide, loose circle of combined men and workers surrounded him as another man unceremoniously pushed him into said positioned, gun aimed at his head. His hands were tied before him.

Reiter walked into the circle holding a curled up whip. "This man betrayed us. He sent an innocent man, a useful man, to his grave. He conspired against me, you, all of his brothers."

"Baron, please" Conklin pleaded though his voice was not in the begging sort of tone.

"His punishment won't come from me," Reiter announced, ignoring him. " but from the one he sought to hurt."

He turned to where Oliver was standing in the circle with him and held out the whip. Oliver stared at him for a few seconds before taking it.

"Oliver, please. Don't do this. I'm begging you." Conklin begged. Oliver was death to begging by now. Too many years of listening to it for hours on end.

"Come on, Queen." He said more tersely. 

Oliver seemed to consider him for a moment before deciding to take his place and acceptable distance behind the damned man.

"Please. Look, I'm sorry! I'm sorry for everything!" He said more frantically. "Please don't do this!"

Reiter nodded at Oliver. He noticed that some soldiers look uncomfortable. Though Oliver didn't delay he briefly caught Slade's gaze-he hadn't noticed he was there before- and registered the concern mixed satisfaction that brewed on his features.

Oliver's assassin training spiked up, and he couldn't help, but subconsciously note that soaking the whip in brine would have made it more painful. Not matter. 

Oliver yanked back to weapon and slapped in forwards where Conklin let out a strangled scream.

"Harder!" Reiter instructed him. 

So Oliver listened.

* * *

 

It was nighttime. He was with Taiana. She was standing, facing away from him while Oliver sat wallowing in guilt. Not because he killed someone, but beciause it was her brother and he was lying about it. She deserved to know his fate.

"We never should have gotten on that dam boat!" She exclaimed, accent heavy with emotion. "Reiter's men hijacked the yacht that we were working on. I was a dive instructor. And Vlad was the Deckhand. They killed everyone on our charter and they brought us here! What happened? With Vlad?"

"Conklin." Oliver said which was the truth.

"Ya, you a double monster!" She exclaimed rushing for the exit, presumably to find Conklin.

"Taiana, wait, wait." Oliver said, standing and intercepting her. 

"I'm going to kill him for what he did!" She wailed. 

"Listen to me. Listen to me. Conklin is- is terrible but he's not the problem. He's just a pawn. "

"Pawn for what?" Taiana drew.

"For Reiter's plan." Oliver responded softly, pulling out the map he had earlier swiped. 

"What is this?" The woman asked.

"This is a map of Lian Yu, and I think that it leads to whatever Reiter is looking for."

"Can you follow it?" Taiana asked, gaining back her composure.

"Not without a...detailed survey map of the island." Oliver said staring out her. She looked at him.

"Where would we get something like that?" 

"Well, I had an idea." Oliver said flippantly. "Its a long shot but its worth a try. To get there, I'll need your help." 

* * *

 

"You alright, kid?" Slade asked, clapping a hand on Oliver shoulder where he sat on his cot.

"Of course. Why wouldn't i be?" Oliver pause, begining to catch Slade's drift. "...I've tortured men before. You've seen me."

Slade rubbed a hand over his face. "Yeah. I can recall." He snorted without humor, plopping down onto his own cot. "Like I said, I've just been weird- well more so than usually- lately. I just want of this damn island. At the very least away from this bloody camp. Oh well. You should get some sleep, kid. Ya look like hell."

Oliver nodded for him to do the same, but he didn't sleep; just couldn't submit to the land of dark.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not editing this. Its past midnight. Sorry for mistakes.


	32. Shark bait ooh ha ha

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So its been awhile. About six weeks to be exact. My computer was fucked up so it wasn't fun to write but its fixed now so i will try to update more. Sorry. I also had ACT. I seriously need to get better at updating. Remember when i used to update every two days? Ah those were the good old days.

Oliver hadn't seen Conklin after the brutal whipping. Though Reiter had demanded that punishment was brought, he gave Conklin leave from all duties and tended to his wounds.

Conklin was angry and hurt and the entire camp could often hear the mans rambling about why Reiter didn't just use any of his magic spiritual shit to heal him.

With him out of the way, Oliver and Slade had been able to get together and converse about their observations. It had been an awfully long time, they felt, since they had really spent time in the others presence. They spent years together; having to trust the other completely and never straying from each others side for more than a few hours. The transition that Waller's mission of bullshit subjected on them was fierce.

It was afternoon when Oliver excused himself from Slade with the explanation that he had to go visit Taiana. Slade had said he didn't care because he'd have to go on his afternoon patrol soon.

* * *

 "If you want revenge," Oliver started. Taiana and he were in the forest now and he was soon to explain his plan to her. " You have to get to Reiter. Conklin's an extension of him. In fact he didn't even know Reiter's full plan until a couple of weeks ago."

"Damn them both." Tainana spat, accent spilling strongly into her words.

"If it makes you feel any better, I tortured Conklin's sorry ass."

Taiana smirked triumphantly. "You are a good man, Oliver Queen."

Oliver snorted in a way that clearly suggested he did not believe such things. "Yeah, whatever you say, Taiana."

* * *

"So what is this plan of yours?" Taiana asked when they finally stopped at a rock outcrop. The half sunk Amazo was obviously visible in the bay.

"This is where I'm gonna use you." Oliver answered.

She turned to look at him. Her confusion was written in strong bold letters across her face. "What do you mean?"

"You said you were a diver instructor, well I need you to teach me to do so."

****

"Are you ready?"

"I hope so." Oliver responded, stripping off his outer shirt layer so he was in only a gray undershirt and his pants.

"I don't see how you can do this after only an hour's diving lesson." Taiana voiced concernedly.

"You sound like Slade."

"Then I'm sure he is very wise." She berated.

"Yeah. That's something I'm not telling him." Oliver said nearly to himself, turning away to toss the camo over shirt on the large rocks nearby. "And anyway, since coming to this island, I've learned I can do a lot of things I didn't know I could. And I'm also heir to the demon with some training in this department so that helps. Plus, you're a good teacher."

"I could go with you." Tainana proposed.

"I know the ship, Taiana. I'll be back in a few minutes. Ten top!" Then Oliver spun around to wade into the water.

Taiana shook her head. "Храни его бог.” 

****

It took Oliver a few minutes to get to the freighter so when he began to feel a faint burning in his lungs, he kicked his legs faster. 

Upon arriving inside, Oliver took a deep gulp of air. It was nearly filled completely to the top, about four feet to spare, submerged in clear turquoise water. After getting enough air for another dive, Oliver plunged back into the water and searched for a particular chest. 

When he managed to spot it, Oliver yanked the little bugger open and unrolled the paper he found to ensure it was the right one. After he did this, Oliver proceeded to surface before taking a final, lung filling, gulp of air.

***

Oliver won't lie. He'd experienced a lot of things, but a shark bite wasn't one of them. And man,  did it it hurt like a son of a bitch. 

So hen he came up from the murky depths, red coloring the water around him, face etched in pain, and panting from more than just air loss, Taiana ran into the waves to help him. 

"What happened?" She gasped.

"Shark!" He ground out in explanation. "I guess I don't taste very good!"

He allowed himself to fall down onto the sandy edge of the beach, letting out louds noises of pain as he did. "That is going to leave a scar!" It hurt more than hell, an intense burning. His voices volume raised and dropped with each word from the exertion.

There were about five marks punctured into the skin just above his hipbone. Just as Taiana went to perhaps have a closer look, the wet sounds of boots flopping in the waves interrupted. 

A mostly healed Conklin appeared into their view. "Well hey there, Taiana. You're a little less dead than you're supposed to be. Though I can't say you'll stay that way for long. And you." He bent down to Oliver's level. Three men were a few paces behind him. "You may not be a spy, but you are a liar. Which means you're probably lying about not being a spy. I'm gonna enjoy taking a few chunks outta you."

By this point, a mixture of pain and blood loss got to him. Oliver's head slumped back onto the sand, submitting to the dark.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do y'all know where the chapter title came from? You should. Its not exactly hard to guess. 
> 
> Those Russian words were God Bless Him btw. 
> 
> Warning: There's gonna be some serious Slade mother henning going on next chapter.


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